It’s natural in January to shift down a mental gear and focus on the year ahead.
My ‘to do’ list is already categorized into creative, professional and personal
goals and ordered by priority which, though it seems a bit over-zealous when I
read it back… I know that if I achieve 70% of the list then it’s been a success.
There are plenty of ‘be kinder to myself’ promises; more yoga, less meat, more
wine free days etc making their annual appearance (perhaps copying and pasting
these year to year would make sense), but I think the general trend is that I just
want to slow down.
Right down. Not quite to a snail’s pace…, babes to feed, beds to be made and
money to be earned.. but being in the moment and consumed by it, answering
the needs of my family and my heart and allowing that to lovingly lead and forge
my path… That’s the road I want to take. ‘The Slow Road’.
And taking it seems to become increasingly urgent year on year.
We live in tumultuous times and although living where we do, in rural France
gives us an advantage to disconnect somewhat from modern distractions, be
they digital, social or professional… it’s proven harder than I had imagined to
change my way of being to fully embrace the beautiful landscape I live in…to take
my foot off the gas and recondition my approach, allowing myself to fully
appreciate the life I long dreamt of living, my Shangrai la.
For 2019 I’ll be taking the slow road; And whilst I know this will be mainly a
mental gear-shift rather than a physical one. I have learned (from moments in
my life when I have fleetingly travelled the slow road), that there are physical
things I can do to facilitate the journey…
So; more baths with natural oils, more soup making, more music, more fresh air,
more bedtime stories for my daughter (and for me!) and more appreciation of the here and now and the simple pleasures that lie within my own reach.
Happy 2019.
