Things have, quite predictably, quietened down a little as we stumble to the end of the year. The housing market is in deep freeze waiting to see what 2024 will bring, hopefully it will return to life in the early part of the year as this last 12 months has been very poor.
That said, I have plans for the new year that will see me redouble my efforts to get some higher value work coming in, and a couple of my direct clients hopefully will have a good few orders too! The tours and workshops plans are being hurriedly re-jigged to take into account some changes that the new year is bringing with it, and I think it is going to push me more towards weekend working on that front. I was going to put the property work on the back burner but in all honesty it fits in better with the new arrangements than what I had been planning so I think we need to push both property and commercial work to the fore again for the coming months, and with that in mind a new strategy is being developed to roll out from the outset.
This is a tough time of year for me as I continue to be haunted by the events of a decade and a half ago, and in particular some words that were uttered following a deep tragedy (for me) by another person to their mother… words that didn’t just imply guilt, but confirmed it. Yet words that have gone on to mean nothing in the legal process despite being recorded in a statement that very day. The winter solstice should be a time for looking ahead to the future yet that one event always pulls me back into a dark place despite all my attempts to move forward.
But tomorrow is another day. And come the 23rd it is like a veil is lifted from my eyes and I can start to look forward again. The whole of December up until that day is tinged with sorrow, regret, guilt and anger - the last week is about hope, joy and excitement about what is to come.
What else it to come then? Well… I have thoughts! The first chunk of next year is going to be about some self-healing and this is going to take a number of forms. I want to work on my physical health - I can’t do much about the damage to my back or the lingering effects of plasmodia floating around my system for the last 25 years or so, but I can work on other things to help mitigate those problems. Jen bought a very, very nice indoor bike a while ago and I started to use it, then fell off the wagon - so to speak. There will be a wee bit more space from January for me to use it again so I have downloaded a cycling program (beginners level) and I am going to try and stick to that over the remainder of the winter to get a base level of fitness up whilst protecting my injured back region - yet working the other back muscles to start supporting that region of the spine. Being fit and healthy also keeps the old parasitic beasties in check, or at least reduces their impact on my daily life. But more importantly getting fit means I can do more outdoors - walking, cycling… photographing! So this is key to moving forward into a more content-creation area with more output of stills and video! And of course, being outside helps fighting off head weasels and black dogs - it makes me more mentally resilient and it helps me get back to a happier, more chilled, state of mind - better equipped come next December to face the demons and put them back in their box.
But more on all the plans as we start to count down to the year end, or early in the new year!
