This blog has come about as the result of major changes in my life. The main focus on my blog will be travel – my philosophy always having been “Have suitcase, will travel“. This may be cheesy but in my case, it’s a fact! If I have not actually packed my suitcase for a couple of weeks, I am convinced that every time I open my cupboard, I can hear it saying: “pack me… take me away… its cold and boring in this cupboard……”
Let’s though not get ahead of ourselves and take a few steps back, in my case, a couple of decades. It took me many years to actually change my hobby (travel) into my everyday job. Starting with teacher (still like teaching people) secretary (don’t underestimate the amount of business acumen one can pick up from your boss), estate agent (learning to cold canvas is not for sissies), wife/ mother (all life skills needed) and finally, owner of my own travel business as a tour operator covering the whole of Southern Africa.
Yes, I was a bit of a rolling stone, what can I say, I am easily bored! Travel though became my “career”, all the other “jobs” although equally important, taught me aspects that I would need to eventually run a business. I had my business for 12 years and would still be at the helm other than that health issues raised their ugly head and when I was advised in January of this year that I should give up my business, I knew that it was time to move on.
I also knew that I would need something to keep myself busy and, and, as I had started delving into social media at the end of last year, I decided that a blog would be a good start where I could share my travel knowledge. But, I did not want to only write about travel, I also wanted to explore and engage with people about something else that I realized, in my rush through life, I had forgotten about ….the joy of simple pleasures.
We all have such hectic lifestyles these days that we are so busy rushing from one place to another that we have forgotten to take time to actually enjoy the smaller things in everyday life – we have forgotten what makes us happy!
Whilst travel is my “wow” on the happy barometer (my husband, children and friends are on the same level, lest they think I have forgotten about them), I have stopped stressing about tomorrow and have refocused on what is happening NOW!
So in-between, enjoying the daily pleasures of listening to the gentle snores of my husband, actually still being asked for advice from my two wonderful children (even though they are well into their twenties) having lunch with girlfriends for a good gossip, watching the sunset with bubbly in hand, taking a long walk on a beach or planning my next getaway, I will be tweeting, face booking and blogging – all of which is a huge learning curve, so my brain will be very happy too!!
I hope to inspire you too to think about what makes you happy – a good start will be to surround yourself with happy people. I read recently that every happy friend you have increases your chance of being happy by nine percent!!
So, what makes you happy?
