Life moves pretty fast

I know I am not alone in that, when at work, I have regular catch ups with my manager. In the most recent iteration, once a week – on Thursday mornings – at 10am. I am not a CIPD qualified person, so I don’t know if this is verbatim from the “book”, but I tend to think of these sessions as a “what is going right, what is going wrong and what needs to be done next” type of thing!

Of course, right now, I find myself in the position of being my own manager in a company called “My Sabbatical plc”. The ultimate self-employed working from home! (I think this is a plc if only because many kind people are invested to ensure that my sabbatical is successful. The dividend for them, which I hope is sufficient, is my immense gratitude for the support I have received).

As mentioned in previous blog posts, my “targets” or intentions for this time are, amongst other things, to rest, travel, write and watch a lot of football! Hence, as I reach the end of month one of my time away from the workplace, whether through some engrained sub-conscious need to review “progress” as I have done for 20 years in industry, or just because one month seems like a pleasantly round number, I felt it was time to have a meeting with my manager – me – and review where I have got to!

Rest – Interesting thing rest. We all do it differently. It is defined in a few ways in the dictionary but the one that seems most applicable in this case is “cease work or movement in order to relax, sleep, or recover strength.” The thing is that, so far anyway, I haven’t really done much of this in what I think could be defined as the literal sense. I have ceased going to work and yet I find myself busy. I think I have had one day where I slept in until 11. I’ve often heard retirees say, “I don’t know how I ever went to work – I don’t have the time”. I must say I feel I have slipped into this mindset quite quickly. The feeling of wanting to get stuff done and not waste time is very strong.

I mentioned in my blog on day one the quote from the Dalai Lama about “We are human beings, not human doings. Sometimes it is ok to just be”. I have thought a bit more about that quote and how it applies to me at this time. Does being just mean resting? Is it relaxing? Or is it simply finding a different cadence or rhythm for the day? Right now, I am not sure. It may be all of these. Being me this month has meant visiting and having fun with family and friends, going into London to explore, completing my Couch to 5K, reading a bit more but also spending time decorating and cleaning my home – ironically my home office space has never looked so good just at the time I am using it the least! I thought rest would be a little easier to slip into. I would have to say, thus far, restlessness has the upper hand.

Travel – I have booked my first big going away thing, but I’ll wait for a future post to talk about that. In the meantime, I was reminded on a little trip to the North Norfolk coast AONB, just how stunning the wild coastlines and local stone villages of England can be. England has some truly beautiful places to visit. Growing up in Hertfordshire, my dear Dad used to take us out into the countryside on drives and bike rides and it helped me to understand how to appreciate the beauty of the local landscape – the home counties have their little gems too. But you can go to so many places in England from Northumbria to Cornwall, Norfolk to Shropshire and it doesn’t take long to find a stunning place to breathe in. I’ve been lucky to travel a lot in England and I will continue to.

Write – I have enjoyed writing these blogs, far more than I had expected in all honesty. And, more amazingly, I have received some pleasant feedback! There is something cathartic, for me at least, about writing my thoughts down. It seems to create capacity in the mind.

The next step is to move into the world of fiction. Here I have some interesting challenges. I have ideas. I have completed a course and I have written some very short stories. The next step is both the biggest and the smallest – start writing. I know from my experiences with running and exercise, the largest challenge is stepping out the door. It is too cold, too hot, too windy, too daunting, just a day ending in “y”! I do feel that I have removed some mental barriers to it though by completing the practical stuff I mentioned earlier. Just need to rip off the Band-Aid.

It must be said there has been one other thing that has kind of got in the way – although not in an unwelcome way:

Watch a lot of football! – Well, it is safe to say I have done that this month! At the beginning of the month, I went to three Arsenal games and watched their other matches, plus a few more, on television. And then the World Cup started! I have been doing a little match report on every game I have watched so far on my Twitter and Facebook feeds. To the point of writing, that is 37 games in under 2 weeks. There has been quite a mix of matches, with very few countries really putting on a strong showing in the group stages. The knockout rounds will be very competitive of course. I can’t wait. Plus, this Saturday, I plan to go to watch Enfield Town in their top of the table clash. Come on you Towners.

To wind up this session, I would say I have made some progress on my intentions but there is a lot still to do. In the end, this is only month one. Now time to close the notepad and head off to the next session of the day. Unsurprisingly, today, that is more football!