...shipwrecked...

Sea-change coming!

Full fathom five thy father lies:
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.

~~Shakespeare, The Tempest

Time does absolutely fly when your life is in a bit of chaos. At the end of June, DAC and I ran away to the Gower to sit on the beach and talk the day away.  In the course of that day, we made BIG decisions which will have very long-term effects. I have offically decided that the only place on the planet where BIG decisions should be made is sitting on a beach with my wonderful husband and watching the sea.

SO...DAC is leaving teaching high-school and has, in fact, already worked his final day. Next, he's going to take a bit of time off to figure out how to change career paths completely. Back to university lecturing? Publishing? Library work? Or perhaps even Occupational Therapy? The world is his to command. The job we do in life to keep body and soul together should NOT make us miserable. And it is high time, I had a happy husband who enjoyed his day job!

To facilitate this, on the 12th of August we are moving to his parents house in Surrey. No rent, no council tax, no electric or water or heating bills! And they've got three empty rooms we can have to ourselves.

It's all very exciting and filled to the rim with major life changes. It's a bit overwhelming at times...especially since I haven't lived with my parents in almost 20 years. And now to be moving in with someone else's parents seems a bit strange. But hey...they've been very sweet and helpful about everything and I've always loved a challenge! It's a bit scary at times too...but that is no reason to stay ashore!

And besides, I LOVE MOVING! It always feels like a fresh start. It's the perfect time to get rid of things you're not using, to donate clothes and furniture and random things to charity, to have a major clear out in advance of moving into a new nest!

It's a big change but it's a sea-change...and that makes it all OK!

Country gifts...

Life in the country has it's challenges. Septic tank issues, anyone? No? You surprise me. At least that particular challenge is once again under control.

Thankfully, life in the country also these tiny moments that you just wouldn't get in the city. These moments are tiny gifts to be sought and savoured.

In England, there is a type of small deer called a muntjac. And we are blessed to have them all over the surrounding farmland. Despite their numbers, you don't see them often and you certainly don't see them for very long as they are extremely shy creatures. Still - you do get lucky every once in a while. Last Sunday, DAC and I were coming home from lunch and there were three in our lane - clearly a family group of a mum, dad and baby. They were so lovely and sweet and swift to move away from us. Naturally, I didn't have a camera to hand...we won't make that mistake again.

The good news is that on Thursday we were a bit luckier...

  

Wildlife...wildflowers...wildness. The gifts of life in the country...

Monday...

There really isn't a great deal of news around the cottage at the moment. I'm still nursing the shipwrecked ankle. I'm still working on Chapter Four of the PhD. And, more than likely, I'll be working at home again this week.

Still - I was up with the alarm again today so I've stolen one more hour as a result of my 37day challenge!! This makes me VERY happy about life.  And I've stuck with my morning photo idea. I've even added an album to this blog which is the Daily Photos file in the upper right-hand corner of the page.  Today's photo isn't particular unique or pretty but as the description will tell you, it's a very familiar image in my life! 

I'm very pleased that I've continued to steal a bit of time each day. Yesterday wasn't a reflection of that...but then we'd been on a road tip to Wales the day before and weren't back until 1:30 in the AM. I thought that probably deserved a bit of sleep without alarm clocks. That said, by 7ish I was really just drifting in and out. My internal clock has begun to shift which I love!

Other Time Thief thoughts...with my extra bit of time each day, I've worked in the daily photo which I've already mentioned. But I've also worked in a bit of time to write in my journal and to make a daily gratitude entry. These are still a bit hit-and-miss at the moment but my goal is that by the end of this 37day challenge, I'll be doing the following Morning Meditations daily...

·         Complete gratitude journal entry – 5 things to be grateful about for that day & to keep in mind for the day.

·         Write in personal journal.

·         Plan my day.

·         Enjoy silence.

·         Review previous journal entries.

·         Take a morning photograph for ...shipwrecked... blog.

130 year old woman...I need to learn everything I can about her!!!

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Kazakhstan's famous '130-year-old'.

And another link...proving that women are stronger and have more stamina...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_people

And last but not least...my grandmother (mom's side) turned 94 on Friday 10th of April. She was born in 1915 and is one of the most amazing people it has ever been my priviledge to know. She is my hero, my idol and my inspiration! The women on my mom's side of the family live forever...it bodes well for my plan to live to 112! 

Oops on Day 14!

I turned the alarm off in the middle of the night and completely overslept! Oh well...these things happen. My plan is to just stay up a couple of hours longer tonight so I can be certain to have my extra hours in the day. But at least I did grab my camera in my haste...I love cornflowers! Of course - I'm no gardener which has been established previously and this wee bunch is growing up out of the sidewalk next to the planting bed by the house and not IN the planting bed. But that's OK - they are still just so pretty and delicate. The photo does not do the colour of their blue flowers justice.

Day 14 and all is well...I'll become an "early bird" yet!

37days challenge March 27 – May 3, 2009

I, __SarahElektra__, being of kinda sound mind and body, have willingly decided to try to do one thing consistently every single day for the next 37 days. C’mon, self, it’s just 37 days. The one thing I will try to do every day is this:

I will get up earlier than I normally do every day...in order to have extra time to celebrate life!

I’m not going to pick two things or nine things because that will dilute my focus –- just one thing. One. One simple action. An action, not a goal. An action, not a value. An action, not a wish. Something I can DO.

I’m doing this challenge at this time because: I know that time passes more quickly than we want it to and I want more of it in my days to cherish.

I’ve chosen this particular daily action because I believe if I do it consistently for 37 days with no (NONE, ZERO, ZIP) exceptions, I will: have more time in every day...more time for friends and family and pets and myself. Time is a blessing and I must learn how NOT to squander it.

If I should fail, I won’t blame anyone but myself (not even my partner, that idiot with 29 items in the express lane at the Piggly Wiggly, the IRS (so needy!), the people who make frosted Pop Tarts and Lofthouse Cookies, or Fate).

I also realize that this contract is solely with myself and carries no rewards, penalties or punishments other than those associated with the reflection of the strength of my character.
New things will happen for me.

I’m ready.

TODAY IS DAY ONE.

If yesterday was day zero, today is DAY ONE!

Please look at the list of blogs I follow. One is titled 37days. Read the blog, buy the book, follow the path. Patti Digh is a fabulous author and I love her outlook on life. I'm learning mountains from the book and I'm taking her latest 37 day challenge very much to heart.

So - for the next 37days my plan is to do the very simple thing of getting up earlier every day that I normally would. I may not get up at 5:45 like I did this AM. And I recognise that getting up earlier will not fundamentally change the world. But I did make myself and DAC lunches for work. I did tidy up parts of the house. I did get my morning FB fix before work. I did cuddle with our cats for a bit. I did plan the vital parts of my day and how/when I would get them accomplished. And, most importantly, I moved that alarm clock out of arm's reach. Now...this is way more than I would've been able to do if I'd gotten up at 7am and had to rush like mad just to get to work without being TOO late.

It's a single small change. And, mathematically speaking, it should just about give me two extra days worth of time in the next 37 to celebrate life! Thanx Patti...watch this space to see the effect my single small change will have...

RealAge...YIKES!!!

OK - it would seem that I have begun this journey not a moment too soon! I took the RealAge test. Outcome??? On the calendar, I'm 37.4. My "RealAGE??? Wait for it...46.9!!! WTF?!?! Now THAT is one hell of a shipwreck!

Keep breathing...long, slow deep breaths...must not pass out and bang my forehead on the keyboard. Go on...take the test! I dare you!

Tools of the trade - the trade of living forever-ish...

Living forever is a process. It is one which will require a number of changes. I've been researching these for the past couple of weeks and I'll be using the following:

http://www.wikihow.com/Live-a-Long-Life
http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Old-Without-Feeling-Old
http://www.realage.com/homepage.aspx - I'm going to take the test and see what happens.
http://www.fitbug.com/uk.sales - I'm not selling you anything! I joined up thru my work for this.
http://www.101thingstodo.co.uk/home.html - I found the book in a 2nd hand bookstore over here. I'm not convinced of all 101 things so I'm replacing a few but it's a fabulous place to start!
http://www.thingstodo.oncelife.com.au/ - Similar but a bit different...you get the idea!
http://www.happier.com/form.htm - Because we can always learn more tools for the one goal in life...to be happy!

Live forever-ish...do the math...

rom a mathematical perspective, I would like to think that these first 37 years are simply the first one-third of my life. With that in mind, I'd really like like to live until I'm 112. That way I still have two-thirds of my life to look forward to. And I do look forward to every second!!! I have so many things I still want to do, so many things that I WILL do.

Now obviously - it's a difficult thing to predict how long we will live in this life. But I do think it's possible to change your outlook and your daily habits so that you can live just as long as possible. The PhD student in me has begun the research at the following website...this is just the beginning of the next 75 glorious years! I'm so excited to see what happens next!