21 January 2008

Buoyant

The third Monday in January is officially the most depressing day of the year. Plus, since about 2005 this sad fact has always made the news so for those of us who wake up to radio alarms, the transition from sleep to wakefulness is heralded by John Humphries pretty much telling us that we should dive back under the duvet and go back to sleep. Today, however, when I heard his doom-filled voice predicting a day of sadness and despair I sat up and thought to myself, ‘Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I feel pretty good.’

Since I started my new job in 2005 and Owen started his business in 2006, life at P’Soup towers has been pretty challenging at times. We have both had huge amounts to learn and often this has been very stressful. We have also had to tighten our belts rather a lot. But we have become pretty good at watching the pennies - for example, in spite of having strong Imelda Marcos tendencies, I realise that I have not bought myself a pair of shoes for about 18 months. And I hadn’t even noticed! Still, at times the challenges have been wearing and I seem to have spent a lot of time simply feeling spent.

In the past couple of months we have finally begun to feel more on top of things. I’m really enjoying my work now and consequently find myself having all sorts of unlikely creative ideas about what I can do. I always knew that the job had this potential, but I was not so sure that I did. Surprising. Also, some exciting opportunities seem to be heading Owen’s way which were unexpected but potentially good news. Most of all I seem to have much more energy, mental and physical, simply to do things that need to be done. We’re finally able to pick up where we left off on decorating the house which has been sadly neglected since we had the bathroom done. I spent the entire weekend painting, but I feel refreshed and motivated. Reading that back to myself I’m even making myself feel sick but I’m not trying to be smug (comments about smug being my default position will be strenuously rebuffed!).

I feel as though I’m looking forward to a year of promise, one where I will reap some wonderful harvests in my life. If this rain ever lets up, perhaps that will be matched in the garden too.

Filed under: Mulch — Clare @ 6:29 pm