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Everything 'Dis'

30/3/2015

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Everything Dis - Derya's World
Photo taken by DreyaB (of DreyaB!)
I find it fascinating to step back and take a look at the way life works sometimes. How numerous things come along and throw themselves at you and you have to deal with them accordingly. I like to be as positive as possible but sometimes events add up in such a way that I lose that particular perspective. 

Yet I know that whatever happens, the world keeps on turning and while I continue to live upon it I have to either cope with whatever is happening or fall apart in a heap in the corner. 

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred I do the coping thing and get on with it. There might be a few tears or a bit of frustration flung about but generally I keep going, it’s pretty rare for me to do the ‘break down and completely give up’ thing. 

Now you might be thinking that I’m about to go on to say, ‘but this time…’ Actually I’m not, but it is interesting to look back on recent experiences and see how close I got to having a wobbly. 

I’m only now beginning to get back to ‘normality’ (whatever that is!) from recent events and for some reason I felt like I wanted to share my thoughts with you. I guess it’s funny how things build up. 

Less than two weeks ago Lady, the eldest of our two dogs, began to get poorly. We’re very luck and ‘touch wood’ our dogs seem to be pretty healthy, so for her to disturb us in the middle of the night needing to go outside was a rare occurrence. 

Now I’m not going to go into details of her illness, but needless to say it required many trips outside and a fair amount of interruption to normal routines. And it wasn’t just a one-day event. Cue the following night and further trips outside – you get the picture I’m sure. 

So along with disturbed sleep patterns and loss of shuteye, there was concern about her recovery, feeding and health in general – she’s not a puppy any more and has been with me for nearly ten years now, so she’s getting on a bit. 

Add to this my partner having to go away a day and a half later for a planned trip that had been scheduled since before Christmas, something that couldn’t really be cancelled and rearranged and that would last five days. 

Now I know I’m exceedingly lucky; firstly to have him in my life anyway, and then that he does a lot of the work around the house while I work and do my day job. So when he is away, my workload goes up – quite a bit. And because I’m not as practised or as natural as him in some of these activities things take that much longer… This all means that I usually set the morning alarm earlier, perhaps by an hour. 

While I was on my own Lady continued with her illness, poor lamb, and I was gradually running out of sleep. Add in to this a job which was particularly ‘demanding’ and that had a deadline looming large and you’ll probably get a better idea of the bigger picture. 

I don’t want to dwell on all of this – life goes this way sometimes and you either cope or you don’t – but I ended up taking Lady to the vets, (which wasn’t and instant fix but worked in the end a week or so later), roped in some gratefully received help from family and worked over the weekend. I hit the deadline and the other half arrived back home on schedule all to my great relief and gratitude. 

It’s only now as I take stock (and finally feel like I’m catching up on sleep!) that I realise how immersed I was in those events and how disconnected and adrift I feel now. 

Isn’t it funny how life works! I’ve spent the last few days catching up with chores that perhaps got pushed aside and things feel much more as they should now, but I’m completely uninspired and disengaged from myself. I can’t decide if I find it strange or completely understandable. 

And it’s this that I find fascinating – why should I feel discouraged and disembodied? I’ve just worked very hard and come out the other end successful. Everyone is now OK and generally fit. Shouldn’t I feel driven and have a sense of achievement? Or is this purely natural and shows I’m still suffering from a lack of rest? 

I have to admit that I don’t have any answers. I’m just not sure, but I do know that I feel discontent. Though I know I’m feeling this way right now, I’m certain that as surely as the earth keeps on turning I will feel different again in time and life will continue to work its mystery in whatever way it sees fit. 

Now that’s why we all keep plugging on – waiting to see what tomorrow will bring…

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From bonkers to boring and back again…

14/3/2015

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From bonkers to boring and back again... - Dreya's World
Photo taken by DreyaB
From the title above you might assume that I’ve been flying around, working like a maniac, going from here to there, only to find myself in at a point in my life where I have nothing to do, then moments late I discover another mountain of chores to carry out and off I go again. 

In fact the title represents me; a description of my inner workings and perhaps even my state of mind. Whether it’s true or not, I sometimes feel like I am a woman of extremes. I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I want, and there always seems to be numerous ideas on the go in my head; all that without exploring the other aspects of life I’ve not had a chance to pay attention to yet. There’s so much going on that sometimes it can be overwhelming. 

What I’ve discovered however is that I’ll go from times in my life when the world is my oyster and all manner of thoughts are spinning around my head, to moments when in all honesty, I could describe myself a bored. Me, bored? I’m never bored! Actually it’s true – I can be, or so I think… 

No wonder I moved to France in search of a simpler life – but is it, and have I found it? Well, yes and no. Wherever you go in the world there are always the aspects of daily living that need attention; whether that’s figuring out where the next meal comes from by either growing it yourself or making sure you have enough money to go out and buy it, or knowing where you’re going to sleep that night, but if we are lucky enough to be able to meet these basic needs hopefully we then aspire to something more. That could be greater knowledge, learning and skills or material things and acquisitions, whichever it is depends on the individual. 

As writers we generally like to explore, be it the world around us or the inner workings of our mind and our lives. I like to do both, consciously and also without realising it. Whether this is self-indulgent claptrap or insightful rflections and learning, it’s up to you to decide. 

What I’ve come to realise through this particular thought process is that it’s not boredom as such, but lack of inspiration. From bonkers to boring, is a good description of me, but not necessarily me as a person, but the affect my life is having on me and the inspiration I have at any one moment. When I say I’m bored, it’s actually a case of lacking inspiration. Nothing is appealing to me at that time. It’s not the fact that I have nothing to do it’s the fact that I have nothing that’s inspiring me, nothing that’s calling to me. 

This could be a fundamental truth and the penny just hadn’t dropped in my mind, but if I learn and hang on to this particular lesson then I can know that the next time ‘boredom’ hits that not only is it that I’m just not inspired at that moment, but that I should know to treat myself gently, to be kind to myself and not get frustrated and beat myself up. With a little kindness and some gentle reassurance, I can know that these extremes are not my make up, but just a part and parcel of everyday life.

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Reflections on the weekend

9/3/2015

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Reflections on the Weekend - Dreya's World
Photo taken by DreyaB
I really enjoyed my weekend. It’s amazing, firstly how we get stuck into routines and don’t realise we’ve got ourselves jaded, and secondly with just a little application (and sunshine) we can mix things up a bit and have a really nice time. 

With the winter weather and feeling unwell some weeks ago, I hadn’t noticed how stuck in a rut I’d become. It’s only looking back now after a lovely weekend that I can see where I was and how tired and entrenched I’d become. 

I think the fact that we’ve had a few days of sunshine has helped. The warmth has meant that the few signs of spring that were around have started to push on and make a bit of a show for us. There’s a long way to go yet but it’s great to see a single daffodil open and frogspawn increasing in number in the pond, along with violets presenting their faces to the sun and birdlife making their preparations for the new season. 

With these hints of renewal beginning to show it feels like these little signs have been absorbed into me, and consciously or not, I’ve felt the need to change things, put a little effort in, and in the process make myself feel better and more alive. 

Some of the things I’ve done? Well on Saturday I finally got around to dying my hair again – with the help of a willing and useful 'friend' – and though that’s one of the little things in life, I don’t now feel awkward and embarrassed about my hair and its showing roots. (It was getting ridiculous but will probably happen again – the process is such a chore.) 

On Saturday night we visited family for the evening – nothing specific was planned, but as a birthday celebration had had to be cancelled the weekend before it was nice to catch up and share a few celebratory moments. We chatted, shared news and activities, but it was a lovely evening just chilling out amongst loved ones. 

Sunday became an ‘avoid the computer’ sort of day. For no particular reason I was treated to breakfast in bed, when the other half decided to get up before me. Though this has taken place before I have to be honest and say I can’t remember the last time, so it was a lovely surprise to find my little family coming to say ‘good morning’ with breakfast on hand. 

Later in the day instead of sitting at the computer or doing housework tasks, we all ventured outside into the courtyard at the back of the house into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day and the temperature must have been in the teens somewhere. The dogs played with toys and we eventually got around to planting some of the summer bulbs we’d purchased earlier in the week. 

After the afternoon dog walk I decided that I would spend an hour with some gentle music on the stereo and a glass of juice in hand poring through some of my books. I wanted to find books either about or written by inspirational women that I hadn’t got around to reading – I’ve always got something new to turn to. It was lovely to completely lose myself in the shelves of one little bookcase and I’ve got a lovely pile of reading balanced on my desk now of biographies, diaries and stories that will keep me going quite a while and hopefully some inspirational actions and quotes will seep into my brain. I realised later it was International Women’s Day so somewhere subconsciously I was doing my bit to support the celebrations. 

To top off my day, sweet and sour pork was for tea and historical dramas and a car programme were my evening’s viewing. Looking back now on Monday morning I don’t think I could have had a better weekend… 

How was yours?

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    Dreya B

    Here you'll find my musing and thoughts in no particular categories, just chronological order. The blog posts from earlier dates appeared on a few independent blogs, but I've brought everything together in one place. If you'd like to know a little more about me try the 'About' page.

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