Coffee Catch Up Time

Beautiful Burleigh Heads Beach

COFFEE CATCH UP TIME

Take a seat and grab a tea or coffee and one of my virtual scones with jam and cream.  So how are you?  No, how are you really?!  So often we automatically say “Good thanks, how are you?”, but are we really good?  Why don’t we answer that question more honestly?

If you were to ask me ‘how are you?’, and I were to answer honestly, I’d say that I’m well but I’ve felt a little sad lately.  I really miss my Dad and I worry a lot about my Mum.  I can feel a bit lonely at times too.  I think I miss the social interactions I used to have with work colleagues when I was living the corporate life.  I probably don’t see enough of my friends either.  Having said that though, I need my social times spaced out these days.  I’ve also been feeling a little restless and desperately in need of a nature recharge and change of scenery, and I still have a restless/uncertain feeling around how I should best be spending my time in order to make the most of the days I have left on this earth and in order to leave a half decent legacy for when I’m gone.  I’m finding my 50’s such reflective and deep thinking years.  I even wrote about The 50’s deep shift back in October 2020.  As you’ll see when you read on, I’ll soon be getting some nature recharge time and a change of scenery for a bit so that will be very helpful.

So there you go, that’s my honest answer to the question “how are you?”  In real life I might say all that to someone I know well but I probably wouldn’t to someone I didn’t.  I may touch on one or two elements of it if the topic of conversation went that way but otherwise not.  I’d stick to the usual “good thanks and how are you?”  Why do we do this?  Well I think we just don’t want to dump our problems or burdens on others, and often when the question “how are you?” is asked, it’s asked as a protocol not really with genuine interest and readiness to accept and listen to an honest reply.  It’s a bit sad don’t you think?  I’m going to make a conscious effort to ask “how are you?” with the most sincerest and genuine interest to my friends and with a readiness for honest responses and a willingness to listen and care.

I’d love for you to tell me honestly in the comments of this post “How are you?”

PANDEMIC FATIGUE

I don’t know about you but I need regular breaks from watching pandemic related stories on the news. It’s been over a year now and the toll on mental health around the world is extremely worrying. Of course I know that we’ve been very lucky here in Australia compared to the situation in Europe, the UK and the USA. Even so, the trauma of what we see, the worry of what could be, the keeping up our attention to social distancing, hand washing and avoiding risky activities, takes a toll.  Of course, I haven’t forgotten the enormous toll on airlines, business owners and the tourism sector.  Vaccinations are soon to start rolling out here in Australia. This gives me the hope that I need (that things will soon improve) and hopefully it does to you too.

HOLIDAY TIME

School holidays are over and so it’s now time for us to have a little holiday away.  That’s one of the good things about mid-life: your kids are grown and you no longer have to take your holidays during school holidays.  Outside school holidays is cheaper and less crowded and that pleases me muchly!  

As you’ll have read above, I’m feeling restless and in need of a nature recharge and change of scenery so read on to see what is coming up!  By the way, you could have a read of my 7 Signs you need a relaxing holiday post to see if you’re in need of a holiday too!

For a long time now I have been craving some time at the beach. I find beach holidays so relaxing and restorative. My post 8 Benefits of a beach holiday will explain why I feel so good after a beach holiday.  

We were booked for a holiday at Kingscliff in late March/early April last year but had to cancel it when we went into Lockdown 1.0.  Kingscliff of course, is in New South Wales (a different state to where I live in Queensland) and during lockdown 1.0 we weren’t allowed to even leave our suburb unless for work.

Since then we’ve managed a few day trips and a 3 night winter getaway, as follows:

• We went for a drive one day to Mt Nebo, Mt Glorious and Samford , written about in this post – A half day trip & another birthday.
• We went for a drive to Bribie Island – pics in my Taking Stock – June 2020 post.
• We managed a 3 night winter getaway to a gorgeous cottage on a vineyard at Ballandean (near Stanthorpe). I’ve yet to post about that trip but I did post about the places we visited on the way there  in this post – Southern Downs and Granite Belt: Warwick. 
• We visited our daughter on the Gold Coast one day (you can see pics in my Taking Stock – September 2020 post).  
• and more recently we had a day trip to Mount Tamborine.

But still no beach holiday …. until now!  Later this week we’re heading off for six nights at Burleigh Heads.  We’re not yet game to book a holiday in another state so we’re sticking to Queensland. We also chose the Gold Coast so we can hopefully spend a bit of time with our daughter who is living and working down there.  Burleigh Heads is a favourite Gold Coast location.  I love it there, and we’ve been many times before.  It also was where my parents took us for January school holidays every year for many years so it holds many fond memories for me.

You can see snippets of previous Burleigh holidays – here and here and one holiday in Burleigh we took a day trip over the border to NSW to the Margaret Olley Art Centre, located on the beautiful Tweed River, which I highly recommend you visit if you haven’t before. There’s a lovely cafe there with an outstanding outlook (see pic in the post) so you can really make a day of it.

Last week Christine from Booming On – Midlife without the crisis published a post ‘Burleigh Heads: a foodie’s paradise‘ which couldn’t have been more timely!  I look forward to trying out some of her suggestions! 

So folks, no blog posts for a little while as I take some time out to mindfully enjoy some time away. However, I will still be posting to Instagram which will also feed through to my Facebook page.

And of course, I can’t complete a post without a quote and this one by Ralph Waldo Emerson seemed perfect, because life is precious and for living, hence my craving for a nature inspired change of scenery by the beach! 

Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

So tell me in the comments, how are you?

Ciao for now,