It’s officially Spring day today in South Africa, yet you wouldn’t know it if you looked out of the window or walked outside. We’ve just experienced some of the coldest weather over the past week. This includes snow on Table Mountain. But I digress…
Hail the flowers, the brighter mornings and the warmer weather. Spring really is, for me, the most exciting season. Bursts of colour, birdsong and clarity… a season of rebirth, new leaves and mother nature just showing off.
It’s also moderate enough to be in the Goldilocks weather zone – not too hot, and not too cold. Suits me perfectly.
It’s a great time of new beginnings too. We don’t need new years resolutions… we need to move into this new chapter in life, ready to blossom. For me, that means taking some time out to relook at what’s not working for my life, body, work, goals.
It’s time to dust the January 1st 2020 vision board off and take some stock.
By this time you should be rolling around on the floor laughing… the 2020 Vision Board… what a relic.
Who would ever have thought that 2020 would be the absolute shit-storm that it’s been? Besides the epidemiologists monitoring the situation in Wuhan on New Year’s Day, nobody else had a cooking clue that 2020 would give us all a swift kick up the bum that it has.
Now that it feels like the (first) storm has passed – we seem to be living with the new normal of face masks, sanitising groceries (am I the only one?) and keeping socially distant… we can now take stock of where we’ve all upended after this crazy hurricane of the past few months.
Can we still achieve what we wanted to achieve? What is this new normal we have to take into account now? Well if you had any travel plans for 2020, they’ve been seriously detonated. The entire travel industry has been decimated. International flights out of South Africa won’t be leaving until possibly February 2021. Unless it’s a repatriation flight.
So we sit and work with what we have. Local travel is incredibly appealing – so many beautiful places to visit (especially if you live in the Western Cape). Figure something out because after 5 months of being inside the same 4 walls, it’s time to escape.
What about work goals? Were you thinking of asking your boss for some more time to work from home? Well… wish granted! Now we find that we want to escape to an office to get much craved “alone” time. Working from home with kids takes time management and setting boundaries to another level.
My goal within the next 5 years is to work towards travelling the world with my family and working remotely with my Fiance from wherever we land up. This includes homeschooling the kids. Tall (but exciting!) order.
Be careful what you wish for.
The universe handed me homeschooling on a platter this year. I’ve been thrown into the trenches, whilst trying to balance running my own business. Luckily for us, we have continued to work but having three kids at home, all day, every day, has taken its toll on us.
I have aged.
Because of comorbidities in our family, we decided to take all kids out of school. We were incredibly fortunate that Maria, my son’s early creche teacher, joined us during lockdown to take care of our two toddler girls. She’s been a godsend!
I now have some of my sanity back. I also realise that I wasn’t gifted with the patience gene. I either have to fully commit to homeschooling (and not have a business) and being with my kids every day giving them my undivided attention, or someone else must do this for me. My skills lie in other areas.
So how will we manage to homeschool when we are just on our own without the help of a teacher? I’ll be furiously investigating cottage schools or au pair services wherever we decide to travel to!
For now, 2020 had taught me quite a bit about myself. What I’m able to do – both mentally and physically to make sure my family is protected. What side I sit on politically. How divisive this virus has been. How politicised it’s become. How much energy this US election is sapping.
I’ve realised that my family’s and my health are critical. We can never take that for granted.
I’ve learnt that if I don’t mingle with the outside world, I don’t get sick. It’s obviously a situation that is untenable because we are all social creatures, but this is the only winter I can remember never having a cold or the flu. It’s been wonderful. My kids are well too. No snotty noses and germ invasions brought back home from creche.
I’ve discovered that I am possibly ADD and that I need to manage that. That it’s not a weakness, but an advantage if harnessed properly. I also probably handed it down to my son, who struggles with the hyperactivity aspect as well. I know my fiance struggles too with ADD, so our house is an interesting, chaotic and colourful one.
I’ve learnt that depression is very real too and the “CoronaCoaster” is a wild and emotional ride. I’ve also learnt that staying off Facebook, unplugging from the news and crazy Whatsapp groups is a positive, healing activity for my soul.
Routine is actually a friend. It comforts me. Consistency is a gift you give to yourself and others.
You don’t need as much as you think you do. Less is more. That’s the same for possessions as it is for friends and clients. Quality over quantity, every time.
Quality time is actually getting into bed at 8pm and sleeping till 6am. It’s a gift you give yourself.
Chasing your tail is passe. Chasing anything is passe.
So on this first day of spring, I feel lighter and happier. I feel like I’m going places. Just when and where is yet to be defined.
