Being Thankful, No Matter the Situation

Camping at Lowburn reminded me of some of our camps around Australia.

I’m so thankful for this lifestyle.

“Use your smile to change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.” – Unknown

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Holiday Ends and Friendship Beginnings Continue

Chilled out and relaxed. Stretched and challenged. Books read. Days sitting in the sun. Tanned and burnt bodies. Sand between the toes. And one little dog with separation anxiety.

The excitement and thrill of going away on holiday is beginning to fade as thoughts of returning home begin to surface.

I’m luckier than most. I take my home on holiday with me because I live in my motorhome. But for two weeks I’ve been able to travel and explore with new friends Sharon and Adrienne. Two years ago we didn’t know each other.

What we have in common is a love of travel, and travel in motorhomes in particular. We each have our own motorhome and fix our own meals (or go out). We plan our tomorrow over a few wines.

We’ve had lots of laughs and a few honest tears. And in two days time we will go our separate ways again. But we’ll meet up again at the end of January. It turns out we’re all going to the same festival.

It’s so cool when begin a new friendship and find out what you have in common.

Writing
I took a break for a couple of days from writing, but the new year has begun with a new book.
I rolled over in that half sleep, half wake state, to hold my I hubby’s hand as we used to do in the night when we lay and listened to the surf.
He’d passed away in July 2020. And I realised a small book needed to be written.

Background Photo
The end of State Highway 67 is at the Kohaihai DOC Camp. The start/end of the Heaphy Track. Home of a pretty lagoon and beach with rolling sea.

The Best Use of My Time

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot” – Michael Altshuler

The end of year is looming at break kneck speed. Smell the roses? Put up a Christmas tree? Hurrying past the people in our lives, all but yelling “get out of my way”. Don’t these people know how busy we are?

And yet…

Once it was important to make time for family and friends. Not to rush to the next place. The next job. The next…whatever has our attention.

At the start of each year, do you set goals? Possible covering all the important areas of life:

Career and business
Finances
Education
Relationships
Health and fitness
Personal growth
Spiritual growth

When was the last time these were reviewed?
How are these goals tracking?

What if we squeezed ten minutes to take a look, now.

Celebrate the wins.

What if the order of these goals were reversed?

My goals have been partially realised, but I’ve been wondering what the outcome would have been if I’d begun with spirituality, personal growth etc.

A long time ago, we decided to get ready for Christmas a week early. And go camping.
Hardly anyone else was wherever we went. They were jostling shoulders with the maddening crowds while we soaked in the sun, read a book, played board games and splashed in the water, enjoy a campfire. Carefree. No hustle. No hassle. We returned home relaxed and ready to enjoy Christmas and our Christmas traditions.

Take time to chill out and celebrate this year’s wins. Its been a tough one very few people would have known to plan for. That makes all you have achieved special.

Go you!

Keep Going. Never Quit. You’ve Got This

“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” — Richard Bach

Nanowrimo is done and dusted for another year. How did you go?

This year is the first time I didn’t complete my goal and I’ve been feeling a bit down and cross with myself.

Then I looked at what I had accomplished. A manuscript that needs work. Thirty thousand plus words. But thirty thousand words more than if I hadn’t worked on the script when I could.

Life happens.

I’m looking at what I do have and what I can do with it. So I continue to write. Showing up each planned writing day to write 500 plus words (Fast 500).

Build on the habit you began with Nanowrimo. Write each day, in whatever time you have.

If your in the same boat, you’re not alone. Work on consistently adding words, until there is a manuscript to edit.

Be an amateur who doesn’t quit. You’ve got this, my writing friend. Have a fabulous day.

Background photo is one of the beautiful sunsets we had while the Motorhome Babes gathered near Oxford, New Zealand.

Picked up the Key To The Door

Moved into my new home on wheels and I am Loving it. Thank you Karon and the team at RV Supercenter, Christchurch

Its been a stressful week getting it sorted and I keep reminding myself how fortunate I am. It will seem so easy when viewd in a tear from now.

I haven’t been getting many words written, and keep going off on a tangent. My mind wouldn’t settle. It was most likely stress. Or, was I allowing myself an excuse to procrastinate?

Homeless

My dear friends Gerard and Femmy, I’m so grateful for your hospitality while I was homeless. Even havong to share your company with an Irishman turned out to be fun. He happened to be on his way from a MMM project in the top of the south to Karitane near the bottom of the south.

MMM

MMM refurbish and help maintain Christian churches, camps and schools. Check them out on mmm dot org if your interested in volunteering your skills, or seeking their help.

Road Trip

A group of motorhome Babes are getting together tomorrow to plan a North Island tour. How awesome is that? Yep, I’m going. We’re departing the South Island the last weekend in January ’22.

Writing

And finally, we’re down to the truth. I’m settling in to the daily routine in a different way. Cracked my daily goal of 1500 words but didn’t reach my catch up goal of 5k. I’ll keep chipping away at it. There’s two sides to every story. I realised I needed to include the other side. It’s been an interesting insight.

Sleep deprivation and PTSD have both made very interesting research.