A trip to the sea

some personal protocols, an upcoming hiking trip, a guilty read

I haven’t strayed far from home lately, so my days and weeks have looked much like the above: making coffee, taking it to my desk, working (paid work) or studying (librarianship). Pick up kids, cook dinner, put a wash on, repeat. I read something a friend posted on Instagram this fortnight about looking after yourself by following your own personal protocols (for example, taking your herbs, doing your breathwork, going for walks - whatever it is that you enlist to help yourself maintain a state of regulation, your personal code of conduct). I’ve seen it put in other ways too, like having a mindful list of your ‘definite no’s’ and ‘definite yes’s’. A trivial one on my definite no list is filling in surveys - it has now become a solid personal rule that I do not fill in surveys, so I don’t need to give it a second of thought when a survey lands in my inbox (should I, shouldn’t I?). Prize draws or not, filling out surveys is a firm No from me. It probably saves me at least an hour a year (ha!). Other, less trivial, protocols I’ve been working hard to install in my daily routine this year have been exercise and meditation in the mornings, taking my vitamins, and in the evenings, I would never go to sleep without reading first (that’s a lifelong one, I can’t remember ever not going to bed without reading and it is an outrage to me when people say they just go to bed and fall asleep - what!?).

At a time of life when I often feel hounded by external demands, abiding by my personal protocols sometimes seems (quite literally) the only thing I can do at times. Do you have any personal protocols that you’re either trying to embed in your life, or can’t imagine doing without?

We took a short trip to the beach this fortnight. I spent 85% of the weekend working on an assignment, but the family had fun and it was a welcome reprieve to be glued to my computer screen and text books in a different environment. In September here the bay is still often grey, which I love, and we went out for a blustery walk to get whipped by a fierce wind. Normally I feel aggravated when the wind is up, but after spending so long at my desk, to feel the wind pelting my skin was a welcome sensation.

This past weekend I handed in my current assignment on Friday evening, and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. I went for a walk with a friend yesterday - something that is usually an enforced protocol for me that I have been unable to find the time for lately - and found an abundance of wildflowers and native orchids. It felt good to be out in nature again after so long spent at my computer these past few weeks.

Other things…

• I’m fairly ashamed to admit it, but in amongst life’s pressures of late I have been indulging in some guilty pleasure reading: thanks to a colleague bringing a particular book into work for me to borrow, I’ve been staying up well past my bedtime reading the first in the Outlander series, which I just finished this morning. It has been exactly the antidote to hours of academic reading and writing that I have needed. (I may or may not have also started re-watching the series this week, an intervention may be required…)

• Apologies if I’ve already mentioned this, but I would really like to watch Emergence Magazine’s four-part series Shifting Landscapes soon, have you watched it? I’ve been - ahem - far too busy watching other things, but hope to get to it soon…

• I have to choose one book, and one book only, to take on our upcoming road trip - I’m not quite sure I can manage it. I’m torn between this and this and this. Any advice?

This next fortnight it’s school holidays and we’re heading off on an overnight hike and a road trip interstate. Last September we took our daughters on our first family overnight hike and we’re excited to do it again in a different place. The packing and organising and thinking takes about a million hours in advance, but the adventure is usually worth it. I’ll share more, next time.

And that’s quite enough for now.

Until next time, travel light,

Lucinda x