A New Decade but not a good beginning.
I have been holding off on writing anything about the start of this decade. It is such a sad time in Australia for so many people that to say Happy New Year seems kind of cruel.
As I watched the stunning and beautiful fireworks display over Melbourne city at midnight on New Year’s Day it was with mixed pleasure. Should we be celebrating with fireworks while beaches on the East Coast of Australia are crowded with thousands of people escaping the fires? We wished each other happy New Year with hugs and listened to people along the Yarra River singing. One of party guests said as he hugged me,
‘Live for the moment’.
That’s what I did. It’s a New Year I will always remember as a sort of ‘where were you when …’moment.
We keep hearing that Australians are resilient as if that somehow makes it okay.
I would like to think ‘Australians are resilient’ is being used as an affirmation. The victims of the fires will need to draw on everything they have got to stay strong in the wake of this adversity. Sometimes picking yourself up and dusting yourself off and getting on with it is the only way forward – the only option. Telling yourself that you are strong or tough or resilient may help.
‘Be resilient’ is going to be one my affirmations for this year. To me this means stick at it – move forward and keep dusting myself off. I have a list of goals that such words will apply to.
My number one goal is writing. I have two projects that need to move forward. I think it is important to give myself deadlines even though self imposed deadlines can be moveable feasts.
I’m taking my Christmas tree down today and starting on the road to my goals. I have written them down so I can go back and refer to them. More on goals in the next post.
Agapanthus surviving the scorching heat and struggling on
The agapanthus that are growing in one of my local streets are resilient and they are giving us pleasure despite their leaves being singed on the baking hot days we have had. It is the white ones that are managing to send up a few flowers – the blue less so.
You can see how some of the leaves have been burned in this photo.