Hello everyone, and hello to 2021!

Happy New Year and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are safe and well.

I’ve enjoyed my little break from the blog. 2020 was a lot to take on board so to lighten the load for a little while and kind of tell myself I was on a summer staycation was well and truly worthwhile.

When I did my Hello 2020 post around this time last year, I was unaware of the global pandemic to come. We were however already quite traumatised by the dreadful bushfire situation here in Australia. Thankfully this year there are no bushfires!

Before we get into 2021 ….

Here’s a wrap up of 2020 on the blog here at Write of the Middle

January 2020

I said Hello to 2020. I fostered my first litter of kittens from the RSPCA. I posted the final post as part of my Gorgeous 50’s series – ‘Just Do It’. I got a bit nostalgic with another I REMEMBER WHEN post about When Romper Room’s Magic Mirror didn’t see me. I posted an update on my first foster kitten litter and introduced my second two! 

February 2020

There was so much bad news – drought, bushfires, flooding, and Coronavirus was now a thing! I wrote a post on Self Care Tips for when there’s ongoing traumatic news. I posted an update on my foster kittens and introduced my third foster litter. I was obviously very much craving a holiday because I wrote a post on 7 signs you need a relaxing holiday.

March 2020

Coronavirus had hit Australian shores and we were in lockdown. My anxiety was extremely elevated and I wrote Coronavirus: Anxiety Trigger Overload. I posted an update on my third litter of foster kittens. All the bad news, fears and anxieties of the year resulted in me having a Missing Mojo. I wrote my first quarterly Taking Stock post for 2020 during lockdown in a global pandemic. Life seemed quite surreal.

April 2020

Since the pandemic was dominating the news and life as we knew it, I decided to start documenting it through my eyes here in Brisbane, Australia and published the first Corona Chronicles post. With the stress and worry of the pandemic, when it came time to return my foster kittens for adoption I had great concern as to what might become of them. I didn’t know if people would adopt during a pandemic and after raising Amaya and Axel from 2 weeks of age, my emotions were running high. The family as a whole decided to ‘foster fail‘ which basically means, we adopted them. I also decided to take a break from fostering as we adapted to having two cats, in addition to our dog, in the house and also due to the fact that I needed to protect my health (physically and mentally) so I could be strong and well for the days ahead. 

May 2020

I published my second Corona Chronicles post and then decided to get my mind off the pandemic and catch up on some travel posts. So I posted about my October 2017 trip to Perth City and Perth’s Elizabeth Quay. There are still so many travel posts (including more from our trip to WA) to yet publish. Hopefully I’ll catch up on those during 2021. I posted about an online film premiere called ‘Same Kind of Different as Me‘ starring Renee Zellweger.  I had started dabbling in painting with watercolours and shared a little of what I’d learnt in this post – Painting with Watercolours – A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Out.

June 2020

I published a guest post – Gem of Zen #34 for my Zen Tip Tuesday series – The Biggest Benefits of Yoga for Anxiety. I posted about A Half Day Trip & Another Birthday and I published another Corona Chronicles post. I did one of those rambling on kinda posts in Ideas that go poof in the night and other ramblings, and I published my second quarterly Taking Stock post.

July 2020

Time for a bit of nostalgia again with I REMEMBER WHEN you could buy a bag of lollies for 20 cents. Restrictions here in Brisbane had eased so I announced I was ‘Off on a winter getaway‘. I’d purchased a couple of cosmetics that I really liked so decided to share them in this post ‘Two game changer cosmetics for midlife women‘. I shared Part 1 of our winter getaway (the stop offs on the drive there) – Southern Downs and Granite Belt: Warwick. I have yet to post on our actual getaway due to issues getting photos off my phone!

August 2020

Another Corona Chronicles #4 update as things were escalating in Melbourne particularly. I decided to take some time away from the blog – Taking time out for spiritual maintenance. All the events of the year, the constant bad news, and more were taking a toll on me and I knew I needed to step back and take care of myself.

September 2020

After a month away from the blog, I published a Checking In post and of course I posted my third quarterly Taking Stock post when it was due.

October 2020

Time for some feel good nostalgia with I REMEMBER WHEN you were either team ABBA or team Bay City Rollers. I was getting inundated with emails about guest posting on the blog – but not the type I wanted. It was becoming overwhelming so I wrote a post that I hoped would help clarify what kind of guest posts I would consider: Guest Posts – the what, why & when. I wrote about The 50’s Deep Shift.

November 2020

With all the beautiful Jacaranda trees in bloom I was inspired to write November Feels. I published Corona Chronicles #5 with some positive news for a change. My twin boys turned 28, the age I was when I had them, and so I wrote Twenty-Eight. I wrote about The Humble Egg, and Xmas gift ideas for the men in your life.

December 2020

I was starting to wind down but still managed to write Shopping, Summer & Christmas Spirit and my final quarterly Taking Stock post also containing Merry Christmas wishes. And that concluded my posts for 2020!

2021 so far

On New Year’s Eve we had family here for a BBQ dinner with potato bake and glorious salads. My sister made a delicious cheesecake for dessert. There was swimming in the pool and a glass or two or three of bubbles or beer.

The first days of 2021 for me were spent by the pool and reading with a few domestic chores thrown in now and then. I’m pleased to report that I finished a half read book, completed a whole new book, and am finishing off another half read book. My concentration is a lot better since taking a herbal concoction prescribed by my Naturopath! It also helps putting myself into ‘holiday’ mode by swimming and lying by the pool etc.

So far this year has been more of the same when it comes to the pandemic. There’s been outbreaks in Sydney and a lockdown in its Northern Beaches, and more cases here and there around Australia. At the time of typing this, Brisbane is in a 3 day lockdown as a precaution due to the fact a cleaner working in a quarantine hotel for returned overseas travellers had contracted the 70% more contagious UK strain of the virus and been wandering around in the community for 5 days. Things are far worse though overseas. All hope now is on the roll out of vaccinations and hopefully by the end of this year, the situation worldwide will be far better than it is now. I won’t go into further detail on the pandemic. I’ll save that for the next Corona Chronicles post.  Meanwhile, I’m sure  most of you would have seen this meme circulating?

I personally am holding on to HOPE that the year will improve. Vaccinations will get rolled out and the numbers will decline and things will get better. Positive thinking can do wonders!

A word for 2021?

I don’t do the word for the year thing. I have nothing against it and I used to do it once but it doesn’t seem to work for me. I also don’t make new year’s resolutions. In recent years I basically have a continual theme of:

1. Being open and curious
2. Always Learning
3. Self Investment (self care, self love, self acceptance)
4. Seeking ways to achieve a feeling of balance in mind, body & spirit (aka ‘zen’)
5. Striving to be the best version of myself that I can be

and that is the path I will continue along.  I struggle in some of those areas, particularly around self love and self acceptance, but I will keep trying to find ways in which I can improve these areas.  I also have a restlessness that needs attention. I feel unfulfilled and restless – unsure of what I am meant to be doing with my days. I would like to feel more fulfilled and happy within myself so will continue to dig deep and see if I can find some answers there!

2021 on the blog

I’d like to catch up on some overdue travel posts. I would love to see more Gems of Zen as part of my Zen Tip Tuesday series. There will be more I REMEMBER WHEN posts and Corona Chronicles and I hope to have more posts around nutrition, and who knows what else. Once I’m back in full swing I will have a bit of a brainstorming day and get a bit of a plan for 2021 happening and we shall see!

How have you spent the first days of 2021?  I hope you’re feeling positive and hopeful that this year will turn out to be a better year than 2020. Fingers crossed!

Ciao for now,