Imaginary lines on the ground

In news that nobody cares about but me… For the second month in a row, I missed the writers’ association meeting. boo-hoo poor me!!

I am keeping up with happenings though – We have a new-look committee and I’m now the official newsletter editor which is exciting. It’s a way to inspire and give back to the writing community here.

I know… IN the scheme of life, me missing my meetings is a blip, a pimple, a non-event for the other 7 billion on the planet…

I know… I’M being a sookie-la-la…

It’s just that I miss my writer-peeps! I am that rare thing – an extroverted writer! Although I have become far more introverted in the past few years, I still love great conversations about creativity and writing and books and art so I’m missing my peeps. I’m missing friends and family. I have yet another great nephew and can’t wait to meet him.

I know… FIRST WORLD STRUGGLES…

I’ll survive.

For those readers who don’t know, the situation here, I was born and lived for the first 49 years of my life in Queensland. As ‘luck’ would have it, the state border, an imaginary line on the ground, runs right through the middle of the locality I have called home for 20 years. My business is on the southern side and the border closure, due to the pandemic, meant we had to deal with long delays each time we crossed the border. So, we moved and now I live 400m south of the Queensland border.

There has never been a case in my new shire. In the 18-months of the pandemic, there have been three cases in the shire just to the south and zero in the shire to the west. To the east is the Pacific Ocean. But because the leaders of the two states don’t see eye to eye, we have been almost completely locked out of Queensland due to cases in the capital city of our state, more than 1000km away. Australia is a vast country with a small population.

For the first couple of weeks after the border closed, I felt the rejection keenly and took it very personally. I know that’s silly but for about five minutes each day, I would get insanely annoyed. It didn’t help that my quiet little shire was locked down along with the rest of the state in order to discourage people from the badly affected areas from travelling. It felt like the teacher was keeping us all in because little Timmy in the front row couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

I know that’s a bit of a mean way of looking at the situation. I’m sorry. I do have compassion for the millions in lockdown in our country and around the world. It’s for our own good. I know. Sad fact is, there is only one way out of this mess. We have to outsmart the virus somehow. I don’t have a lot of good to say about politicians but at least this wave has shocked the populace, regardless of the ‘uselessness of many of our elected leaders’, into action around getting vaccinated. I am very much a ‘my body-my choice’ advocate and my heart goes out to those who don’t want to vaccinate for whatever reason.

I made my choice after listening to two excellent doctors; our family GP and Dr. Elen, my incredibly well-educated women’s health specialist who has loads of alternative training, too. I trust both of them, literally with my life! I am also lucky to have a dad who is a retired medical professional and I was able to pick his brain on the matter.

My wish for everyone is clarity on the issue, whatever they decide to do. And the understanding that we will all have to live with the consequences of our choices.

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After 4 weeks, my little shire is out of lockdown, which is an enormous relief. To celebrate, we’ve been living large, getting out and about in our ‘new state’ to see what’s good. And you know what’s good?

Everything!!!

We’re still not welcome in Queensland, but since the lockdown ended we’ve discovered so many gorgeous local restaurants, shops, markets, and little hidden beaches. We’ve been eating, playing tennis, dancing, and going to the movies. We’re making hay while the sun shines!

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Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.

Albert Einstein

Journal Prompts

What invisible lines am I creating for myself in my work or my life?

What am I prepared to give up in order to have the life I want?

What is weighing me down?

What am I 100% NOT PREPARED to risk to live more fully?

What do I want? What do I REALLY want?

What am I catastrophising?

What WE IMAGINE IN OUR LIVES CAN IMPACT WHAT WE CREATE IN OUR LIVES. What would happen if I imagined peace instead?

Feature image: Byron Bay lighthouse, by Christine Betts