Getting Ready For The Shot…

Ah but we all need a break from our mad lives. Just last week my pal and I had what we ended up calling a ‘carer’s break’ in southern Spain. The couple sharing our taxi liked this name as we were all of an age when caring for aging parents is now the norm. Five days of pure pleasure – rolling in the salty waves, wining and dining on the local cuisine and catching up on some well deserved laughs amid the unusually hot late autumn sun. A large shot of enthusiasm for life.

On return I was reminded about what we can sometimes call the ‘cost’ to us in all the preparations necessary to create little breaks for ourselves. The list of instructions to those taking over our responsibilities, the phone calls and arrangements put in place, the barbed comments from those we leave behind – it would be easy to think it was just not worth the hassle especially when we come home to find things have changed a little and not always for the better.

When taking on any adventure, especially if it is something new and a bit of a stretch for us it is soo easy to stumble at the first hurdle. To sabotage ourselves and our progress by allowing ourselves to worry about what others are feeling/thinking/saying and letting it stop us can be familiar way of navigating life’s challenges. Often, just as we set off thinking we have everything covered, some big, furry ‘thing’ appears and we think “Uck it’s just not worth it” and retreat back with our shirt tails tucked well in.

The thing is, we are worth it. If it is important enough for you to want to do it then it is worth doing and worth doing right now. Get ready for the shot, prepare all the details, focus on the bigger benefit and remember there will always be something – it is how you deal with it that makes the difference. Don’t let that furry thing derail you. On your hero’s journey the thing that is stopping you, or worrying you or even frightening you can sometimes turn out to be the very thing that will help you most. For me I used to think my family prevented me from doing so many things – now it is my family that allows me to live freer, happier and definitely with a slightly more tanned body!

Here is me getting ready for my big Andalucian photo shot…