by Carla Louise | Feb 6, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Feeling: excited about the move, not quite myself due to illness
Reading: Cityboy by Geraint Anderson, and feeling even more relieved than usual that I escaped!
Eating: Bitsa Wispa, rice noodles and a whole host of random defrosted things
Planning: a more mindful life in my new home
Dreaming of: summer evenings for friends, barbecues and tealights in jars strung in the trees
Coveting: a bird table, a unicorn statue for the garden and this kitchen mixer.
Wishing: I could take my own advice on occasion, and that I’d bought a Memory of Light earlier so it could accompany this week’s long train journeys
Working on: this weekend’s photoshoot, packing up my house and Ink Drops development
Celebrating: the last few weeks of being 26, and the godawful month of January finally being over
Grateful for: the frankly incredible amount of support and offers of help I’ve had from friends and family since I announced the move, and my fabulous parents who have essentially put their lives on hold to help me out
And finally tomorrow I will be: in Reading, at an impromptu school reunion!
On my to-do list this month? Tiny things like packing and moving house – aarrrghhhh. Also eating better, moving more and trying not to dwell on things I can’t influence or change.
by Carla Louise | Oct 12, 2012 | Adventures, Memories, Personal Development |
I feel very strongly that this is a new phase in my life. The opportunity to work so close to home is one that I think I only truly appreciate having battled almost two years of four-hours-a-day commuting. It signifies a change in pace, and a change in attitude. To make the jump to leaving London, there is a whole mindset change. Money becomes less important, and time, though still precious, is more plentiful.
There will be more time to spend with my family, the people and also the animals that are so dear to me, and who helped me so much through the darkest times of my life, and who share these happy ones so wholeheartedly.
Time to take Bluebell for long cycle rides, Poppy for long drives, to ride Jack and Chess (maybe not simultaneously) through the fields, to photograph and record the things I didn’t even have time to see before.
Long afternoons to spend with friends, chatting, talking, just being. Time to dream and plan for a nomadic future – narrowboats and caravans, visiting friends, a gentler pace of life.
While still running my businesses and creating my portfolio life, I also want to find time to learn – through the university, evening dance classes, finally getting going on my Universal Class courses, through Free Range Humans and Escape the City (just because I’ve escaped, doesn’t mean I can’t still spend time with fabulous like minded people)…
All these things I have missed for the past five years. All these things I am so much looking forward to – and all these things and more I will be thankful for. I’ll still be busy but I am absolutely determined to make more of everyday life now I have taken the leap. I don’t want to just live for the weekends – I want every day to be worth something.
I don’t regret my time in London, I’ve met some wonderful people (you really do find absolute gems in the most unexpected places) and I’ve learned a lot, much of it also unexpected. But the time is right to move on, and I am focused on the future. I don’t think I’ll ever return to work in the City – but I will take many memories of it with me.
