JANUDREARY & THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING GRATEFUL

Why hello there - and Happy New Year to you too! 

Now that we've got a few weeks under our belt, how's 2014 shaping up for you? 

Did you get away, see some sights? Bask on a beach with a book thinking - Summer, where have you been all my life?

This festive season, in addition to gaining a few kilos due to an over abundance of cheese, I stayed in. It was almost exactly like a summer vacation except in absolutely no way at all. This was a necessary evil. Boxes were unpacked. Stuff went to charity. More boxes were unpacked….More stuff went to charity - We entered 2014 in a good place. That's to say we no longer had multiple kettles, an unused corn toaster (no really it's a thing) and near full scale replica of the Great Wall of China in moving boxes cluttering up our cozy abode. 

I feel confident. Self-assured. Powerful. I am woman. I am all things! 

Hold me. 

Seriously. Someone hold me. I now have two children to juggle with no escape, a husband back at work and no looming summer holiday to keep me sane. This is why pioneer women went crazy and moved to Australia - Toddlers (and eternal sunshine). 

In an attempt to channel my focus to more positive endeavors I took down my copy of the Alchemist, lied and told the baby sitter I had an appointment, and settled in for a good read. It's a little tradition of mine and I've yet to be disappointed.

Some years it's inspired me - there's nothing like the promise of fulfilling your personal legend to heap fuel on the flame of determination, other years it's provoked deep thought.

This particular year I'm sitting somewhere between the two. Neither fired up nor philosophical. It feels a little uncomfortable. I've coined this state - Janudreary. The liminal space where the gas has gone from the cylinders you burned last year, and the ones for the coming year are yet to fire.

Yet Janudreary isn't all bad.

There's the constant promise that the best is yet to come, like the shepherd whose unwavering belief in his personal legend leads him to the ultimate treasure.

I also think that just like a book the space between these chapters is not an empty void, but held together (quite literally) by glue and the spine and all the other pages that make up the book. We are the sum of all our experiences - past, present, future - start removing pages the story ceases to make sense. Plus it makes Librarians mad…

So I've been thinking that perhaps, in the space between the chapters, this Janudreary phase - I need be a little more grateful for my glue…

Which is why my resolution for 2014 is simply to - be grateful…what this means or exactly how I will achieve it are all part of the journey.

Did you/Do you make resolutions? Did you/Do you keep them? Do you wish I'd stop talking about shepherds and glue? I'd love to hear your thoughts

Jacq

x

PS - On the subject of being grateful I had my first Mummy/Daughter day last week. No boys. All day. It was delicious. Just look how big she's getting. Note the wardrobe change. Sister is really working those pinks...