Tag: #everydayinspiration

When Life Happens, We Create New Traditions

Day 24 and another Christmas Eve rolls around.  As a kid, this was the most magical night of the year.  It’s 22:50 as I write this.  We would have all been in church now, and we would have opened our gifts as soon as we got home.  But she is not here anymore, and those traditions are now relegated to the happy memory box.   

We do have a new tradition, though.  Being with family is still the most important part of our Christmas.  We gather at my sister’s house.   Her husband does most of the cooking.  He makes a mean curry, and his gammon is delicious!  My contribution this year is the beef tongue, which no one will eat as it is too salty, and the dessert. The day is filled with love and laughter, and that is all we can ask for, so this is what I am most grateful for today.  I am really looking forward to tomorrow.  

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Having to change our traditions after losing a loved one is a reminder that we have a presence and we take up space.  I used to think that it was so sad how we just go on with our lives after someone’s death.  We don’t really, though.  We have to find ways to live without that person.  The person and their role in your life can never be replaced.  The thought of it makes me realise how valuable and unique we are, and that is definitely something to be grateful for.  

I am going to keep it short and sweet tonight.  Thanks for popping by.  

Let me know in the comments what your special Christmas memories or traditions are and why.  

Have a wonderful Christmas! Bye for now

“A year from now, you will wish you had started today.”  – Karen Lamb

Hello there.  With the end of the year rushing towards us, it feels like it is time to start taking stock of the year that was and planning for the year to come.  One of the exercises that works for me is to ask myself what success will look like at the end of the year.    I am a firm believe in “doing the hard stuff because the time will pass anyway.”

My fifty-second birthday is in just over two weeks. (That number doesn’t look so daunting when you write it out. 😅). When I turned fifty, I said this would be my best decade yet, and I still believe it.  This year, I stepped out of my shell in an attempt to set myself up for my future.  Now, I need to make the most of the new skills and experiences that I have acquired. I also decided where I wanted to be by next April.  I am so surprised to see that opportunities are popping up that can enable the materialisation of those goals.  I shouldn’t be because I know that God has my back, but I can’t help it.   It’s so amazing.

In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear advises, “Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it.”   At this point, I am grateful that I finally understand that I need to do this.  I have been a consumer of my life for too long.  I am also thankful that God has given me the courage and strength to keep moving towards my goals.  He has also blessed me with the opportunities to grow into the person I need to be to achieve my desires and goals.  There were so many times this year that I witnessed myself saying things and behaving in ways that I only dreamed of.  I still have a long way to go, but I am taking a moment to thank myself for all the growing I did this year.  I am very proud of myself.

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2025’s words are “health and wellness” for me, and I am thrilled to have already started building some of the necessary habits I will need with my new mini-trampoline and stationary bike. It is going to be a good year.  I am very excited.  Financial wellness is also on the cards.  This year was a financial disaster, so I also have much work to do there. I am looking forward to the challenge, even though sacrifices will have to be made to achieve my goal.

Well,  that is from me for today.  Thanks for popping by.  Have you decided on your word for the year yet? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now.

I Have Been Yawning All Day

It was so weird.  I had such a good night’s sleep last night, yet today I could not stop yawning.  It felt as though I hadn’t slept at all.  I couldn’t understand it, and then this evening, it struck me…this is probably due to the release of tension from having my son home last night. 

It happens each time my son goes away.  I think I am okay, but actually,  there is this low level of tension that I constantly carry with me.  It’s like the air that fills a balloon and keeps its surface rigid.  It doesn’t feel like anything, but it’s there. And then my son comes home, and all that air in my balloon is released, and I feel relaxed and at ease again, and all I want to do is sleep.  

He has left again, so I guess my balloon will start inflating again soon, but tonight I will sleep like a baby (hopefully).

Photo by Kristina Paukshtite on Pexels.com

Two Things I Am Grateful For

I am grateful that I did get to spend time with my son today.  We had a great lunch at the mall.  I was pleasantly surprised that I had a decent-sized discount voucher available to me at the time of paying, so I am very grateful for that too. 

I am off to bed now.  Thanks for popping by.

Bye for now.