Linda Holman

   “Real rest feels like every cell is thanking you for taking care of you . It’s calm, not full of checklists and chores. It’s simple: not multitasking; not fixing broken things.”  — Jennifer Williamson I love Christmas, but I get stressed out when I have too many social things to do around it. For me the best part of Christmas is the time when the tree is up - the smell of pine, and my husband and I cuddled up on the couch watching sweet Christmas movies. Time off work, time to relax on the deck with friends and family, the quietness of the week between Christmas and New Years. Time to rest and recharge. What I don't like is feeling pressured to buy gifts, cook for lots of people, or run around too much on the day itself. I don't like the drive to finish all the work, visit all the people, and do all the traditional things. I'm also not a fan of how much of the pressure to have the perfect time is applied almost exclusively to one person in the family - usually a woman....

  “Life is made up of lessons and gifts, that’s it. Every experience is an opportunity to learn from, or a gift    to be thankful for. Or both. But that’s it. That’s all we get.”           Colleen Patrick-Goudreau A new year brings an opportunity to reflect on the lessons and gifts of the previous twelve months. For me, as for many, 2020 was a mixed bag. Here in New Zealand we went into strict lockdown early in the pandemic and those weeks were some of the most peaceful of my entire life. After many years putting too much emphasis on work I finally had time to rest, read, and listen to birdsong. It was a gift to be thankful for, even amongst the anxiety and fear of a pandemic. The 'wood kennels' I made over lockdown Right now my December 2020 breast cancer diagnosis is too new and too raw for me to clearly see where the lessons and the gifts lie, but I trust that at some point soon I will look back and know. This blog will help with tha...