7 Things I Love That Don't Cost A Thing

As another year is about to draw to a close I find I’m reflective on the year that was. For my loved ones it was a year of sickness, stress, heartache and joy. It was a massive year in a lot of ways and when I find everything is a little dark in my world, the universe has a wonderful way of slapping me on the back of the head and saying “Hey! Someone else has it worse than you, don’t sweat this,” and the universe is right.

I am blessed in so many ways and yes I will have my days where I lose my shit, but I will find calm again. After an early morning feed one morning I found myself staring at my son in wonder. Here is this little person just starting out. What will he be like? Will he be a good man? Will he always know he is loved? His smiles are like nothing I’ve ever felt and it got me thinking about things that make me happy that don’t cost a thing.

In a world that is go, go, go and where we never really switch off (I’m terrible at this) I have made a list of things that make me happy and don’t cost a damn thing. As 2016 begins I hope that I can spend more time in the now and just enjoy the moment and not worry about capturing it on my phone and enjoy the things we are gifted for free.

(Not my son but still pretty cute)

My son’s smiles. If I could bottle up and sell my son’s smiles I would put drug dealers out of business. Sometimes the smiles are easily won but other days I have to work for them. I have no idea what is going on in that tiny head of his, but when he smiles everything is perfect and I’m filled with a warmth and happiness I’ve never known before. Yes, technically he will cost me a lot of money in years to come, but that pure joy on his face when he smiles is something no drug can replicate.

Health. This is something I find we take for granted until we get sick. Our bodies are amazing things and although I don’t believe in depriving my body of the fun and naughty things in life (life is too short) most of the time I will try to treat it well. My body amazed me while I was pregnant and then after as I was nursing my son, and then I was reminded of how fragile it was when I ended up back in hospital 6 weeks after my son was born with appendicitis.  

Some members of my extended family are currently dealing with serious illness and are battling health on a daily basis. Be thankful for every day you wake up and feel good, well normal because you never know what is around the corner (like a gangrenous appendix).

Dusk. Dusk has always been my favourite part of the day. As a kid I loved playing in our backyard as it turned to night. There was something almost naughty about being outside as it got dark and as I got older and was driving at dusk, I fell in love with it even more. I love the colour of the sky as it turns from blue, orange, mauve and black and the satisfied feeling that  I’ve survived another day and the promise of a good night ahead.

The smell of rain on a hot day. Yes this one is a bit clichéd but really, apart from the smell of a wood fired pizza, is there a better smell in the world? Although rain on a hot day usually makes things humid, the smell kind of makes up for that. That fresh air feeling after a stifling day hits your nostrils and you can’t help but smile.

Thunder storms (minus golf sized hail stones). When I was younger I used to imagine that the claps of thunder were giant’s footsteps as they came to get us. Growing up in the hills I knew the giants lived on the other side of the rolling green hills and it was only a matter of time before they got us. Thunder is equal parts terrifying and thrilling and as long as I’m inside I still love watching a good storm (granted it’s not the tail wind of a cyclone).

Imagination. This is one of the best gifts I believe a person can possess and doesn’t cost a thing. I am lucky (and sometimes cursed) with having an over active imagination (don’t most writers?!) and it is something I truly treasure and hope my son inherits. I am rarely bored as my mind wanders and keeps me and those around me, entertained. Think Anne Shirley but without the habit of getting myself into tricky situations. My imagination keeps me sane and happy and that is kind of a helpful tool when you’re a writer.

Autumn. Apart from the fact my birthday falls in Autumn, it is not the only reason I love it. Summer is too damn hot and feisty, Spring is a mistress with severe mood swings (you never know what you’re going to get and times that if you live in Melbourne) and Winter can leave you sad and depressed, but Autumn? She’s a fine lady. I was lucky enough to spend the first 28 years of my life in the Dandenong Ranges, a place I consider one of the most beautiful in the world. Autumn has cool mornings and evenings but warm days and the colour! Oh the colour! Yes raking up leaves is a pain in the arse (or should that be arms?) but watching the leaves change colour from green to yellow or red that then create its own yellow paved road, warms my heart. Who doesn’t love trudging through fallen leaves and kicking them up in the air like you did when you were younger? Free, it’s all free.

BOOK REVIEW: AFTER YOU – JOJO MOYES

I hate it when people ask me what my favourite book is. To me, that is like asking someone who their favourite child is. Now, some people may have a favourite child, but I don’t have a favourite book. I have books that I love and have read again and again but to name one? No way.

A good book should grab you from the first few pages and never let you go. A good book is when you groan about having to stop reading and go to sleep/work/eat/socialise/live outside the world you are currently living through the pages of the book. You should feel a magnetic pull to pick up the book and keep reading whether it’s because you have no idea what’s about to happen, you know what’s about to happen and like a car crash it’s happening in slow motion, you love or loath the characters and you want to see them happy/sad/seek revenge/justice etc or, if it’s a really good book you have no idea where the story is going and you need to know. Like, yesterday.

I’d like to begin by saying I love JoJo Moyes. I first discovered her when I read her novel The Last Letter From Your Lover which then led me to read her exceptional book Me Before You. Me Before You was a book that I finished in 2 days as I had no idea how it was going to end right until the last few pages. I loved the two main characters Lou and Will, and they made me laugh and cry. Moyes writing is both entertaining and emotional and she writes in a way that makes you NEED to know what happens next. When I’m asked by people to recommend a book, Me Before You is one of my top answers, so when I heard she had written a sequel named After You, I had mixed emotions.

Part of me was upset that she would tamper with the magic that is Me Before You. Here was a book that I had cried over, thought about for weeks after I’d finished it, I had been that emotionally invested in it, so did I need to know what happened next?

 So, when the publication day rolled around, my finger hovered over the ‘buy now with one click’ button debating whether I wanted to go down this path again. Deciding that yes, I did in fact want to find out, I purchased it through my Kindle and started to read. And read and again, like Me Before You, I couldn’t put it down. The blurb didn’t give much away in terms of the story so when one hell of a curve ball was thrown, my jaw dropped and I was hooked.

The book doesn’t have the same pull emotionally, as it did for Me Before You but Moyes has created and captured characters that will entertain and move you. The main players are still there, although like real people, they have changed and moved on in some way and the new characters are colourfully created.

Moyes writing is part of her charm and one of the main reasons she is the success she has become and After You is no different. Looking for a book to read? Start with Me Before You and then decide if you want to find out what happens next. I guarantee you won’t be bored.

Quote Of The Day

Imagination

When was the last time you were alone? I mean really alone. Not in a lonely sense, but the way where the only thing you have to keep you company was your thoughts. No phone. No computer. No talking. Think about it and I bet you can't remember.

On New Years Eve I was talking to a friend who is a primary school teacher. We were talking about the great conversations you can have with kids (the ones she teaches and the ones I used to coach rhythmic gymnastics ) and we were saying how we felt sorry for kids today. I told her I was worried that children were losing the ability to have an imagination. Who has the time or the need for an imagination when you have your head stuck to a computer screen all day? I'm worried we'll have a generation of kids who don't know how to make believe.

We used the example of when we see families out and about and the kids eyes are glues to their phone or ipad. While I'm sure this keeps the parents sane and we said we may end up doing it, I can't help but wonder what is it doing the kids? As a kid growing up in the late 80s and 90s, if we went out for dinner with our parents we had to, wait for it, talk to them and whoever we were having dinner with. Then, once we'd eaten we were be allowed to go out and play.

My husband and I both recall great childhoods. While he grew up in the suburbs, I grew up in the country where most of the time we were outside riding our bikes, playing chasey, climbing trees or playing stick people. I have a younger brother who always followed my lead with games and we would create our own make believe words.

One day, my Dad came across me playing and asked me what I was doing. I was holding a small branch off a gumtree in my hand making the leaves shake like hair of somebody talking. I told him I was playing Stick People. My Dad roared laughing and asked for royalties. Being a kid I had no idea what he was walking about until he explained that as a kid growing up in the 40s and 50s, he did the same thing. Except he called it Stick Men (we'll call my upgrade of the name moving with the times).

We escaped in Disney movies and books. Maybe I'm not a good example of a child with an imagination because I believe writers have overactive imaginations and maybe I always did. My point is, we were given time to just...be. Sometimes we had nothing but our imaginations to keep us occupied, so we had to work on that.

I think nowadays we are too concerned with kids becoming accomplished adults that we are forgetting one key thing: giving a child the time to have an imagination is not a bad thing. An imagination is where dreams and goals begin. If we have kids doing something every second they're awake doimg sports, learning ,musical instruments, language classes then homework and bed, where's the time to just be a kid?

This goes for adults as well. The older I get the more I'm realising that its ok to take it slow every now and then. It's ok to say I have nothing planned for the weekend and I can't wait! While yoga is a little too slow for me now, I quite enjoy ignoring my phone for awhile and just relaxing. Whether this is lying on the floor just letting my thoughts roll around or going for an early morning walk where I only have my thoughts for company.

I find it is these times that my best ideas for writing come. And why? Because I switched off the internet and tuned into my imagination. I don't know about you, but I love delving into my own world and thank my parents for encouraging it.

2015: The Three D's

Firstly, Happy New Year!

I have a confession to make. I hate New Years Eve. I've never seen the appeal of staying up till midnight to see a new year in. I'm sure I did when I was younger (but I can't remember back that far) and I'm sure I had a great time. But not one New Years Eve stands out as an awesome, can-you-believe-this- is- happening, this-is-the-best-time-of-my-life night. Wait, I lie. I did spend one New Years Eve in London.

I was by myself, jet lagged and in bed watching terrible English TV by 9pm because my eyes refused to be open any longer. I woke up at 3am on New Years Day in my tiny hotel room that had funny shower handles, and said Happy New Year to myself and tried to get back to sleep. That is the only New Years Eve I really remember and despite being in one of my favourite cities, it wasn't the New Years Eve part that was exciting.

My point is, I hate New Years Eve, but I love New Years Day. New Years Day to me is like opening a new book and delving into a new story. It's all fresh and new and exciting and you don't know where it's going to go, but you hope it's a bloody good read.

 I'm not one for new years resolutions but this year I have created my own version of resolutions. Yesterday, I stuck a post it note on the side of my bed side table at eye level. It will be the first thing I see when I wake up. The post it note has three words: DREAM, DRIVE, DISCIPLINE.

These three words are my principles for 2015 (I have no aversion to the other 25 letters of the alphabet, my words just all happened to begin with the letter D). I have my goals, hopes and dreams and I hope this year they become fruitful and are applied to many aspects of my life, not just my creative one.

All three are important, but need to work together to pull anything off. I completed one dream last year from sheer hard work and discipline. I had the dream, I had the drive and I found the discipline and gave myself a deadline. I achieved it (and one week of 17 hour days) and I'm hoping (and praying) that my hard work will pay off this year. In the meantime my CADD (Creative Attention Deficit Disorder) is going into overdrive and I have written a list of projects to focus on, the blog being one of those.

So please raise your glass, and let's toast to 2015: The year our dreams become a reality.