Starting off again one small step at a time …
My very dear friend Lizzie in Bristol – who has been running the very popular Folk House Café for many years and is now in the process of revamping family run Quartier Vert – recently sent me a list of ideas to research in order to turn a couple of my personal projects into money-making ventures. She thinks that both the Sevilla Tapas blog and azahar natural clothing have potential and so I now have a list of instructions to help me get started … except it turned out I have become so bad at thinking in even a remotely straight line that I also needed to enlist the help of another clear thinker and straight shooter, none other than my “hermana de alma” and international woman of mystery, Pipocas. We got together on Saturday afternoon for a lunch and brainstorming session here at casa az and here is how it went …
As Pip & I hadn’t seen each other since we went to the hospital last Tuesday and had the “no more chemo” info session with Ricardo it seemed that a bit of celebrating was in order. And of course nothing could be done without a decent lunch. So the better part of the afternoon was spent drinking the lovely cava that Pablo had brought over on Christmas eve (gracias Pablito!) and eating arrugula salad along with the most decadent pizza in the universe. By this time we were well into the second … or was that the third … bottle of wine and so, while Nog went off to do some class prep in his newly organised “den”, I managed to talk Pip out of doing that horizontal thing on the sofa and we got to work.
After discussing the various possibilities and what sort of work and research they would entail, Pip then told me that the best way to proceed would be with baby steps. One step at a time. So she set me a task for the coming week, which will be to take care of just two things from Lizzie’s list but to do them both thoughtfully and thoroughly. This way I will be able to enjoy the accomplishment of having completed two tasks without getting overwhelmed by all the other stuff that still needs doing. Also, by working on these two things, other ideas will no doubt arise … we shall see.
I’m also starting to teach a bit next week. Just three classes so far, which will help me get back into “work mode”. For the time being I’d like to keep the English classes down to one or two in the evenings and have my mornings free for fitness (gym & yoga) as well as working on the new projects. I should be able to squeak through February like this and Pip thinks that taking the month to focus on new stuff is a very good plan. Besides, until I get the CT scan results, I don’t want to take on students that I may have to give up again a week or two later.
I am so grateful to both Lizzie and Pip for taking me in hand and getting me organised. Once I have done a month of weekly baby-step tasks I am sure that I will not only be much closer to realising the changes I need to make, but I should also be “over the hump” created by having been sick & inactive for so long and be running on my own steam again.
Another very important order of business that was decided yesterday was that if I get the “all clear” after my next CT scan (ten days from now) we are definitely taking that weekend trip to Morocco. So, keep those fingers crossed!
Glad to hear that your are starting the process of “getting back to normal”. Getting back to normal and also leaving space for body-mind wellness is important.
If only I would take that to heart, myself.
I can’t wait to see photos from Morocco!
I am HOPING that we aren’t going through another spate of my having to sit around and wait for single cases to get spat out at me one at a time and then worrying about whether or not I have enough work to be able to keep me going from day to day. That’s what was happening when I had my freak out in November.
I HOPE against hope that this is just a post-Christmas lull. My office-mate did not get his contract renewed. At least I know mine has been.
He is still my office-mate because the company we work for is trying to find new work for him but I know that several people I have worked with at the government office have not been renewed the others that have are, like me, dragging about working piecemeal.
Please forgive me for posting this hear. I can’t blog it because it is “safer” mentioning it here.
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Fingers, toes legs, arms, everything crossed. But I have a hard time typing this way.
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Oh, I suppose I will take a photo or two while I’m there, mudhooks. 😉
Meanwhile, your mission is to focus on the job at hand and NOT worry about things that haven’t happened yet and may never come to pass. And you can also start doing something for your body-mind wellness (maybe check out youtube for a short daily yoga session?). Just do those two things all this week, okay? We can compare ‘baby step’ notes at the weekend – I’ll give you a call on skype either Saturday or Sunday. *snibble*
Whoah, now that’s what I call serious yoga, Silverstar! 🙂
(got yoga on the brain as I have to get out of my warm comfy bed in half an hour and shiver my way over to the gym)
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I can’t even imagine how hard it will/must be to regain your focus. Keeping positive thoughts for next week and for your accomplishing your goals this week.
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Hurray for baby steps! Hurray for new projects and hope for the future.
I’m sure that switching gears from facing chemotherapy and fighting off death to looking into the future and planning a new business venture is dizzying, to say the least. Sounds like you have a good support team in place and some good ideas.
Continued good energy is being generated from the Havens.
Mudhooks, I hope everything will get better for you as well. I can relate to having to blog about problems in the comments section of other people’s blogs! Since my clients and my husband and my family read my blog, I can’t say much about issues I have with them in it. Sometimes it is very stultifying.
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just had a glass of yummy red wine at home with newly returned lovely lodger (been skiing in Austria damn her eyes) after 1 and a half at said QV. Feel pretty good now, despite being Monday. You will do just fine at tiny steps and before you know it you will be a giant. I feel all the optimism that I remember from our talks just before you left for Spain way back in 1991 (???) – you are a brave and fantabulous being and oi luvs ya. xxxx
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“I can’t even imagine how hard it will/must be to regain your focus.”
I really did need help with it, Kim. And it’ll get tough again next week when I have to go for the CT scan. Kind of brings it all back home again, you know? But today I’m feeling good and have been working a LOT this afternoon.
Check out the google map thing I did today for the tapas blog (this is its temporary map link home…) I also made separate maps for each bar/restaurant, but this one shows where they are in relation to one another. And I’m going to add my own photos in the pop-up bubbles.
http://azahar-sevilla.com/sevilletapas/azahar-sevilla/
“Continued good energy is being generated from the Havens.”
Very much appreciated, hmh. 🙂
“oi luvs ya. xxxx”
Right back atcha, honey.
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baby steps are absolutely the way to go, as is plenty of celebrating each accomplishment as you move on to the next one.
And I’m not remotely surprised that you needed a little help to turn your focus back around to the future after all you’ve been through in 2008. Anybody would. Even Lance Armstrong 😉
{{{hugs}}}
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I love the photo, BTW… I have one very like of myself about the same age. I will have to see if I can find it. Maybe it is in the album on Fotki….
My mother was telling me the other day (I know she has before but I quite forgot) that I had tight little blonde curls when I was born. Even the photo of me with my little duckie I don’t have curls…. Barely-there flat blonde hair. Though I DO have the odd very kinky hair that shows up out of the blue.
Re: “Meanwhile, your mission is to focus on the job at hand and NOT worry about things that haven’t happened yet and may never come to pass.”
I know…. I keep finding myself falling into the Chasm of Fear and I AM trying to be proactive. Today I had to admit to my boss (here at the company) that one reason I haven’t actually spoken to my Supervisor at the government office (I haven’t even MET her, yet!) is that I am afraid of her! It is stupid because, for all I know, she is a very nice person.
My challenge the next time I have to go in to the government office is to go and introduce myself. I am such a scaredy cat!!!
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This is the “duckie” one. http://public.fotki.com/Mudhooks/my_stuff/my_shady_past/the_early_years/9mos.html
Be patient… Fotki is having hiccups)
Funny that the one I am thinking of isn’t there. I’ll have to look through the albums.
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Yes, that was indeed me about 50 years ago … how odd it sounds to say that. It’s the only baby picture I have. You can tell it’s me by the pudgy thighs and rather determined look on my face.
Except for the lack of hair that photo looks just like you, mudhooks! I’ll look for you on Skype this weekend to make sure you haven’t fallen into Chasm of Fear. Fear? Pah! We laugh at Fear and then make it feel silly. Right? Right!
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