I’m having a special dinner party at my place to celebrate my birthday. It’s a select group. The conversation is assured to be interesting.
Continue reading “Come to dinner at my place?”Category: Discovery
Job hunting in a new world, part 2
“Use this opportunity. Make this not only a hunt for a job, but a hunt for a life. A deeper life, a victorious life, a life you’re prouder of.”
What color is your parachute, Richard N Bolles
A few months ago I wrote about job hunting in a new world and the two books I planned to use as a guide as I explored what my next career step would be; What color is your parachute? by Richard N Bolles and Designing your life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.
Continue reading “Job hunting in a new world, part 2”Why I write
This week I celebrated three years of blogging. This is so much longer than I ever expected. I really thought it would be 12 months, 18 at the most. But in the process I’ve discovered I really enjoy blogging.
I’ve always loved writing. I can remember writing and creating my own books when I was in primary school. And later on deciding I wanted to be a journalist when I grew up. I even studied journalism at university before realising that although I loved writing, journalism wasn’t the right career path for me.
I’d love to be able to write a novel but have never been inspired to write more than 500-1000 words at a time. Blogging is perfect. Short, straight to the point and very easy to publish.
Initially the purpose of this blog was to share my experiences as I took a 12 month sabbatical but in the process it reconnected me with a childhood passion. Something that had been lost over the years with the pressure to write university essays, newsletter and website copy, marketing reports.
I only write when the inspiration takes me. I haven’t set myself hard and fast goals for blogging. This is not meant to be work, it’s for pleasure. And I’ve enjoyed writing in my voice. To write with authenticity whatever catches my interest.
I love it when I hear from a reader, sharing their thoughts on a post, or to say they’ve been inspired to read a book I’ve reviewed.
Finally, for the mathematical side of my brain some statistics:
- Total blog posts: 41. That’s about one per month.
- Total words written: 23,000
- Most popular post: Why my holiday was not so good
- Most popular day: Tuesday at 5 am (Ok, so this was weird! But I’m guessing as this is Eastern US time, it’s 5 pm in China and 7 pm in Eastern Australia depending on daylight savings. A much more reasonable time. Unless you’re all setting your alarm for early on a Tuesday morning?)
- My favourite book reviewed – Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. Probably because I could relate to her experience so much.
The point of this whole Year of Yes project is to say yes to things that scare me, that challenge me. So in order to YES a problem, I have to find whatever it is inside the problem that challenges me or scares me or makes me just freak out – then I have to say yes to that thing.
Shonda Rhimes
- My biggest lesson learned – Life lessons as an expat. The lessons I have learned over the past 10 years as an expat will stay with me for life. When I feel lost I refer back to these, especially now when I can’t just jump on a plane and be “home” in 24-48 hours.
- My biggest discovery – I have FOMOOF! Which is even worse now with all these new foods on offer in the US. Chocolate dipped, peanut butter stuffed pretzels!!! Need I say more?
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Could this be my new happy place?
Practicing Shinrin-Yoku today. The colours, the textures, the sounds, the smells. Could this be my new happy place?
Continue reading “Could this be my new happy place?”The long journey home: part 2
Over two months ago I wrote my last blog post, The long journey home. Today I write having completed that journey.
Continue reading “The long journey home: part 2”The long journey home
Continue reading “The long journey home”It may seem at times like you’re thousands of miles from where you want to be, but step back for a moment and maybe you’ll see you’re actually just on a long journey home.
The value of having an occasional meltdown
In these challenging times I’d be surprised if every one of us hasn’t had at least one meltdown in the past few months.
Continue reading “The value of having an occasional meltdown”Today life starts getting back to normal
Today my son goes back to school. It has been three months since our world went crazy. Today life starts getting back to normal.
Continue reading “Today life starts getting back to normal”Where do I start?
In a little over two months the world has changed. Irrevocably. It will never be the same. Where do I start? How do I start? What do I say?
Continue reading “Where do I start?”Why my holiday wasn’t so good
We have had a fun-filled three weeks in Australia catching up with family and friends in three states; Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales. However, underlying is a deep sadness as every state we visited is experiencing drought and/or bushfires.
Continue reading “Why my holiday wasn’t so good”