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My Personal Values

So my understanding of my personal values is at times superficial and weightless. While having a conversation with a colleague, I made the statement that our priorities in life are based on what our values are. If we don’t know our personal values, then how do we know what our priorities are?

Personal values also ties in with trying to find a life purpose, and my previous post regarding that matter.

There is also a push to develop a mission statement for yourself based on these values.

I have at long last decided to have a look at my personal values, and craft a mission statement for myself.

The top ten things I value are:

  • Family
  • Home
  • Honesty
  • Loyalty
  • Compassion
  • Creativity
  • Fun / Light Hearted
  • Organised
  • Healthy
  • Self aware

Now these are words that I throw around, but my next thought was do I actually know the definition of the … Read the rest

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Kleinkloof Farm – Piketberg

Kleinkloof Farm, Picketberg

To celebrate our wedding anniversary (3 years) and to take advantage of the long weekend, we went away to Kleinkloof Farm, just outside of Piketberg. Just 2 hours outside of Cape Town. From the little I can tell it is mostly an olive farm, and the views are breathtaking.

Our journey to Kleinkloof Farm, Piketberg, was a meandering one. We left Cape Town on Thursday morning, arriving just after lunch time. And if you are in that part of the world, I can recommend the vetkoek at Du Vlei Farmstall and Restaurant. They are pug / dog friendly. The food is tasty and plentiful.

Our cottage was in a cluster of three cottages, and all three were originally labourer cottages. The furnishings were gorgeous and the views unbelievable.

Our first night was spent making ourselves at home, and unpacking the clothes and food. And then the weather turned … Read the rest

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Platbos Farm – Gaansbaai (2020)

Tree in front our suite at sunrise.

My sister and I had initially booked this weekend for May 2020, but that didn’t happen due to the lock down. We rescheduled for August 2020 and landed up having an awesome weekend at Platbos Farm, just outside of Gaansbaai.

Platbos Farm is an eco friendly farm, which means it is completely off the grid i.e. no electricity. We selected the Bush Buck Suite, as it had a flushing toilet. Some of the sites have more environmentally friendly composting toilets.

Bush Buck Suite Platbos Farm Gaansbaai
Bush Buck Suite

The drive from the Southern Suburbs took us approximately 4 hours along the coastal road. This included a lunch in Hermanus. Platbos Farm is a self catering venue so we traveled with all the groceries we would need. This in turn turned out to be more than we needed.

We arrived at 2pm and were pleasantly surprised at the … Read the rest

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A Safe Place – My Oak Tree

safe place oak tree

I have started a writing course offered by the Life Righting Collective, and this is the first exercise in the course. It is based on the use of Morning Pages. This is my safe place.

The tall oak tree was there to be climbed.

It had stood outside my childhood bedroom window. Always whispering and rustling. It stood proud against the backdrop of the garden landscape.

I started climbing, feeling the rough bark beneath my young, soft hands. Stretching upwards to move from one sturdy branch to another with my shoe encased feet finding purchase.

The branches became smaller in circumference the bark smoother and less gnarled. The air was sweeter and crisper. The sounds of the ground life fading away. I climbed and climbed spurred on with the determination to conquer this mighty oak.

The ground looked so far away and the sky ever closer. As the … Read the rest

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Covid-19 and life changes

covid-19 coronovirus effect

I am by no means an expert on Covid-19, however, I like many have had to make changes to my life and household.

Life
  • News consumption
  • Routines
  • Depression

My news consumption has definitely changed during the hard lock down and subsequent relaxing of restrictions. My morning and evening routine is to check the numbers of cases, followed by the live news update and then checking my twitter feed.

Normally I avoid all news, as I enjoy being in an ignorant bubble. However this crisis has shaken me to come out my bubble. My heavy sighs has prompted my husband to threaten to take away my phone. It is scary out there, and I am dreading the day that the virus affects my family, colleagues and friends directly.

The routines that we now follow are all about minimising the risk of letting the virus enter this household. We are washing … Read the rest

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Childless Grief

Today’s post is not going to be a happy one. I really thought I was doing okay, and that I have made peace with my future. A friend revealed to me that she was 12 weeks pregnant today. And although I am happy for her, I can’t help but be sad for myself. It is moments like these that remind me of my childless grief.

Sad for my husband, sad for our future and sad for our failure.

It hit me hard, so very hard. And now I am on her support team, because I don’t when to shut up and look after myself. My husband understands my childless grief, but doesn’t feel it. All he can think is that we are better to be childless than to have the worry of having an aging egg meeting a sperm and running the risk of complications.

And intellectually I agree with … Read the rest

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Valentines Day – 2020

This year I have gone a bit creative with Valentine’s Day. There is something in the air, and it may have to do with my goals / plans for 2020.

We aren’t typically a romantic couple because we don’t do cards or flowers and this may be a hang up from our respective past relationships. For this reason we try to keep it low key with few expectations.

I do try at times to bring a bit of spice into our romantically lives and I still smile at the though of the discussion we had about DateFactory. This is a service that delivers a date in a box to your door. The horror on my husband’s face at the cost associated with said box was hilarious. I thought for Valentine’s Day, that I would give on of their digital dates a try for fraction of the cost, and only … Read the rest

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Decluttering Principles

decluttering principles

We have a problem with clutter. I sometimes feel like we are drowning in it. Then we have very different thoughts on how to declutter. I am almost convinced my husband is a hoarder, but a sneaky one that hides his stash. I am a person who drops things and leaves them where they fall. Then given that this is a childless environment, there is no driving need for us to to have good discipline to instill values into another person. With all that said, these are some of the decluttering principles which could and do work in our household:

If you trip over it

There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not tripping over something or kicking something. And I don’t say this with any measure of pride. I do know that I should be putting my various shoes away, but then I just drop them … Read the rest

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A New Year – 2020

New Year New Start 2020

It is the start of a new year, 2020, and time for some bujo and making accountable goals. I have decided that in this new year, I will be making better use of my time and bujo, and to ensure that I will also be holding myself accountable, I will be making this a sticky post on my blog.

While browsing Pinterest, I came across a new concept of an old idea, Level 10 Life. In short this is looking at the ten areas of your life and coming up with actionable tasks to achieve your level 10 life. A more detailed introduction can be found at Be Level 10.

Another idea that can, in my opinion, be used in conjunction with Level 10 Life and the 101 Goals in 1001 days. The concept is to set 101 goals and, you guessed it, complete it in 1001 days.

Although … Read the rest

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Fertility Decision Time!

fertility decision at a crossroads

I need to make a decision regarding my fertility and to weigh my options. This is according to my therapist. At the moment I am sitting in limbo. I am not going balls to the wall to fall pregnant i.e. fertility treatments, yet I am hopeful of falling pregnant but I am enjoying being child free and responsibility free.

I am in limbo. And it is causing me pain on an emotional level and stunting my growth as a person.

All that she has said, I cannot disagree with. Guess that is the benefit of therapy. There is a third party who is objective enough to tell you the hard truths.

My homework for this week is to create a pro’s and con’s list regarding having a child. I need to make a decision. Time is running out for me and she fears I am going to regret not trying … Read the rest