Travelling On

Karmacat

Thanks Gally I've been to that area of Spain - been to Granada twice, actually - but the others I'd go again, and there's plenty of smaller places to go to as well round there. Almost every town on that coast thats still properly Spanish is a goldmine of history I haven't seen enough of Madrid either, come to that. But the timing is tricky - February is when I felt most in need of something! But my house will be nicer next year because the kitchen will have been done, and I'll have been able to keep it clean, so next winter won't be as problematic anyway. And having a proper 2 week holiday in March might be just the thing


Sun is shining right here, right now, so I'm off out for a walk.

apple_muncher

'My life is expanding into places I want it to be.'


Brill. Just brill. X

Karmacat

Thank you apple

beanielou

Loving the 'my life is expanding in to places I want it to be' :A xx

Karmacat

:hello:Thank you beanie

teapot2

Wow, lots of interesting posts, it seems you have already identified lots of things that make you happy and or contented. I think its so important to make time for being creative and doing things like writing - these can be the first things to go when we get 'busy'.

Hope you don't think I'm sticking my beak in but reading through, you have lots already in place and exciting plans. I know you might feel like you can't take health and energy for granted but hopefully you might be able to experience more being in the moment and doing some tweaking. That doesn't feel such an uphill struggle to me as starting over from scratch.

Cheery_Daff

Love all this musing and pondering, how excellent :j :j :j I love it when other people say something that sparks a load of thinking about life, this forum is marvellous for that. And it's great how you can articulate so clearly the things you want in your life, and the things you don't particularly want (like going out for tea every night etc) :j

Karmacat

Thank you both :wave::wave:

teapot2 wrote: »

Wow, lots of interesting posts, it seems you have already identified lots of things that make you happy and or contented. I think its so important to make time for being creative and doing things like writing - these can be the first things to go when we get 'busy'.

Hope you don't think I'm sticking my beak in but reading through, you have lots already in place and exciting plans. I know you might feel like you can't take health and energy for granted but hopefully you might be able to experience more being in the moment and doing some tweaking. That doesn't feel such an uphill struggle to me as starting over from scratch.

Totally agree with all that teapot; I think the reason I'm a bit out of whack at the moment is that over the winter garden dormancy, I've focussed on all the navvying (and avoiding getting the flu, because *still* no vaccination) - it all got very prosaic and pretty boring. I kind of knew it would happen, but it's still a pain. Very First World problem though!


And then totally with you on experiencing more in the moment and tweaking-not-starting-again - both very doable.

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Love all this musing and pondering, how excellent :j :j :j I love it when other people say something that sparks a load of thinking about life, this forum is marvellous for that. And it's great how you can articulate so clearly the things you want in your life, and the things you don't particularly want (like going out for tea every night etc) :j

The most amazing things get sparked on this forum, don't they!

There's an image of healthy retirement (now I think about it, probably put about by insurance companies) that I think I've got quite sucked into, without enough conscious thought. I need local people, of course I do, but I also need my peers (thats a summary of about ten paragraphs I wrote and deleted ). Though I have to remember about energy levels, sometimes I need to just stop, or do very little.

I'm going to enjoy this :j

Suffolk_lass

What a great series of posts KC, with so much considerative thought. That is one of the real pleasures for me so far - time to think. It isn't just stopping when I stop, sometimes it is consciously emptying my head, and sometimes it is gathering (other times I am just physically knackered, of course). I am really conscious that I do get tired, when navvying in my own garden (love that expression).

I think I always feel a bit empty in winter (motivation all gets up and goes rather than me having any) and I definitely become more sedentary as my motivation departs for its' winter break (in Madeira), making me feel a bit useless. I now use an alarm clock which is supposed to counter SAD and it certainly improves things for me. I bought one for DS because I have always known he has this. I'm just not sure what any of our normal reactions are to winter really, but I am conscious it is different. Apart from the boring parts of gardening in the dormant months.

Karmacat

Thank you SL, much appreciated And yes, *thinking* about our lives, and what we want, is wonderful - I could wish that we were all more conscious about that much earlier, actually. I thought I was, but I wasn't ... thats why I've got some catching up to do now.

The winter SAD has become more and more obvious to me, given my own experiences. Next year, I'm definitely going to be booking something southwards, maybe Andalucia as Gally said, maybe southern Italy, which is just as far south, and I haven't been to quite as much. On a daily basis, I don't need an alarm clock as I usually wake up so early, but getting out for 15 minutes first thing in the day is a really good antidote for me.

So today, what's healthy for me to do? I think I'm going to take a train from the local station to go to Battersea Power Station and have a look around journey time is a total of 28 minutes, excellent. Just going to check my Oystercard, and off I go Though I may have a snack first!


Hope you have a good one too.