Monday 9 January 2012

January Week 1 Review - New Year's Resolutions {2012 Life so Far...}






Truthfully I'm not a great fan of Christmas.  I've never 
experienced a white Christmas and the Christmas season in 
Africa is hot and not much different from the rest of the
year.  As a Christian I'm a believer in celebrating Jesus' 
birthday but in Durban Christmas time is an unpleasant 
materialistic bun-fight and the last 2 weeks of
December here are REVOLTING. 

The shopping malls are filled beyond capacity, the stores
are groaning under the weight of far too much stock and 
every eaterie in town has a queue outside it. The roads
are jammed with nose to tail traffic - the inlanders
love flooding to the coast for a couple of weeks. 
The answer? Head inland of course!

This year we finally got it right. We worked our 
fingers to the bone until the end of Friday 16th. 
We wound things up as best we could for the
year then packed up a 7 foot trailer full of golf 
clubs, tennis racquets, board games and 
FOOD (no scrappy stuff allowed!) and set 
off for a couple weeks break. Perfecto!! 

No internet or mobile phone signal, no distractions,
no friends  or relatives, just each other's 5 favourite 
people. As soon as we were unpacked and settled 
in all  stresses melted away and for 10 days hardly a
thought went  through my head! I was amazed at how
the peace and quiet  - slower way of life -nourished
my weary  soul back to good health in such a short 
 period of time. 

I just LIVED - IN THE MOMENT - without 
concerning myself with  anything more than what to 
defrost for dinner :).  After 10  days of sleeping, 
eating and playing my mind returned,  razor sharp and
I had what seemed like a "gazillion" brain-waves.  All 
sorts of  ways I could improve my life, fit in more, 
 prioritise, let go,  etc, etc. It was really inspiring!
I've written pages and pages of lists detailing 
what I  would  like to implement in 2012 and
intend documenting them here in categories. 

I always make far too many resolutions but rather too
many than too few I say!!  New Year's Resolutions are
great and I'm a firm believer in them (resolutions of all 
types - at any time of  the year actually) - but one thing
that  resolutions do not take into account  are curved balls, 
the one's life throws at you,  and we have  had a few of
those already!  A good friend had a heart attack on New
Year's Eve & is currently in the Intensive Care Unit of
one of our local hospitals. 

Today he had a massive stroke. Who knows what tomorrow
holds for him?  Changing your ways (and hence your life)
is a wonderful concept but don't forget to live your life too. 
After a  busy day today I spent an hour in the pool chatting
to my family over half a glass of red wine.  Because life is 
short and the whole point of resolutions should be to
make more time for what really counts.




13 comments:

Bellaidea said...

Sending best wishes to your friend...

Kerryn said...

So so true. I hope that your friend pulls through ok. x

dstandard said...

Best wishes for your friend and happy new year!

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Love this post Helen ... and I will be praying for your friend! :):):):):):):):):):):)

Cindy Fortin said...

This is so true... I love this message (except for the part about your friend of course! I send you my best wishes for this friend).

Jasmine S said...

Oh Helen, this post is so inspirational although it has come from someone's health problems. I do hope your friend fights and pulls through this. My thoughts are with you and yes I agree totally, live for today. Is it age that matures us and finally makes us realise this?
Well if it does, I am glad I am getting older (well apart from the few wrinkles appearing) x

tania said...

wise words! hope your friend is already doing better:)
have a wonderful day:)

Marelize said...

What a wonderful inspiring post Helen! Your getaway sounds wonderful. I hope 2012 will be a fantastic year for you and your gorgeous family. Take care. xx

Denise Price said...

I hope that your friend will be okay!

Lynette Jacobs said...

Hope your friend is getting better Helen.

My dad is getting weaker each day and that was part of the reason why I want to embrace all of life...because it is far to short. Living in the moment is something I want to cherish...so I GET your post.

Alison said...

One of the lessons we embraced after Stuart's death was that we really DO have no idea how precious life is nor how quickly it can end...glad you realise that too, and hope things are improving with your friend
Alison xx

Eila Sandberg said...

So very very true, life is short and precious. How is your friend? Blissful to have no internet connection and just beeing together with your family, totally wonderful Helen! xoxox

Diana said...

I'm not a fan of Christmas either. Similar to you. So much unnecessary consumption and so many platitudes and superficialities. Ugh. But DH will never, ever agree to my request for us to run away from it all, not even for one year. Sigh. So I'm stuck with it.