It is 599 since lockdown was announced in South Africa.

It is 318 days since the start of 2021.

And there are only 47 days left until 2022!

… and I realised – today is 599 days since lockdown started.

• What impact did lockdown have on your life during the last 5990 days?
• What are you planning to do for the next 47 days (46 since today is almost over) before the start of 2022?
• What are you planning for 2022?

I have decided to quit doing all the things that doesn’t bring me any joy or if it does not add value to my life.

I was sitting in the office starting my sentence with “I have resigned …” and before I could complete the sentence, my colleague said: WTF? She thought I resigned my job, but I only resigned something that took so much of my energy that each time my phone rang and it was somebody from that project, I sighed deeply and felt as if all my energy was drained from me! Now the phone can ring and I gladly sort things out, because I know they won’t be stealing my joy for much longer.

The next thing is to sit down with all the things that I do or, at least, want to do every day / week / month:

• Full-time job – not negotiable
• Part-time job for publishers – not negotiable
• Part-time bookkeeping and other admin clients – partly negotiable
• Hobbies – a lot of decision-making as to which hobbies stay and which goes
• Studies – not negotiable
• Needlework group – we already discussed less time
• Various NGO’s – definitely negotiable
• CWAA – Cape Women’s Agricultural Association – negotiable
• Reading & watching movies – not negotiable on the books, but maybe negotiable on movies
• Socialising with friends and family – I need to plan quality time as this should be non-negotiable
• Church & Bible Study – not negotiable
• Walking (prepping for part of the Camino de Santiago – 300km over 3 to 4 weeks) – not negotiable, but I need a proper strategy for preparation to 2023 / 2024.
• Bible School – not negotiable, but I need to plan my time better
• Writing school, blogging, etc. – need a better strategy and better time management, as this is also not negotiable
• Me-time! – not negotiable

The sad part is that I have 46 days to decide what stays and what goes. Certain stuff like job and church is non-negotiable, some are partly negotiable and others fully negotiable.  And once I have decided what stays, I have to plan my diary properly to make sure that I allocate enough time to all that I feel is adding value to my life.

One thing I have already started … since September 2020 I have been taking ME-TIME on a regular basis by going away for weekends, either visiting friends in tranquil Aurora, West Coast or staying at gorgeous spots in the West Coast on my own … taking much needed recharging time!

So, watch this space – in 46 days I would have made up my mind as to what stays and what goes. 😊

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