reading

My reflective wrap-up for the month of November….

What I’ve been doing

Recording, editing and posting a couple more interviews for the Women Talk Work podcast, including my chats with fashion entrepreneur Viv Mitchell, professional golfer Joanne Mills and executive coach Jacqueline Jago.
Working with my little bro Neale on an application for funding from the ACT Screen Arts Fund to develop a feature film story.
Many of my hours this month were consumed making a photobook of Ella’s first 2 years. This is something that I’ve wanted to do for ages. Although the software was relatively easy to use, it was a painful process to select and arrange the photos. Let’s hope that they were worth the effort!
Quarter 1 BAS was due this month, so I caught up on lots of scanning and filing and bookkeeping. Boring. But necessary. And better to just do it than have it hanging over my head.

This month we travelled to Bathurst to have an early Christmas celebration with Jason’s family. Being the only grandchild, Ella received lots of gifts and attention and I’m so grateful that she has such a loving extended family.
I’ve had a couple of blurgh periods this month where I’ve felt stretched and over-committed and so so tired. Often when I’m in these little funks, I find myself feeling grateful for the most basic things – supermarkets where you can buy all the food you need, hot water that just comes out of the tap when you turn it, a basic, but comfortable house that is our own space etc.

Head & Heart is designed to be “a monthly capture of my feelings and doings, in the raw.”

I mentioned it briefly in last month’s post, but this month started with a trip to Adelaide to do a Executive Certificate in Event Management.
I’m also super excited to have commenced in a permanent part-time position at YWCA Canberra as the newly created Leadership Programs Manager. I’ll be managing and trying to grow the range of great women’s leadership development initiatives under the SheLeads brand.
A message from one of my aunties via Ancestry.com got me interested in delving into more details of my family tree. I tend to do my family tree research in bursts – mainly because I only want to pay for Ancestry.com premium access for a month at a time and try to get maximum value out of it! In this recent round of research I discovered a few new interesting facts… My 2nd great-grandfather, Robert McDonald, was the keeper of the Gladstone Gaol in South Australia for over 20 years in the early 1900s. My 3rd great-grandfather, John Tortoise, built and was the first publican of the Western Hotel in Port Augusta.

Sunny Canberra winter days. Even when it’s freezing outside, being able to see the sun is such a delight.
My brother Neale coming to stay at short notice to help me out with caring for E while J was away for a couple of weeks.

Meditation, and why I don’t do it! Reading 10% Happier (see below) really highlighted so many of the benefits of meditation (many of which I was aware of) and I can see how a regular meditation practice would be a valuable thing to do. But for whatever reason, I’ve never been able to get into the habit of meditating regularly – perhaps it’s the difficultly in finding a time/space where I know I won’t be interrupted for 5 minutes, or the belief that I need to finish all of the other things on my to-do list first before I can sit down and take a few minutes for myself.
June marked one full year of using You Need a Budget (YNAB) – the longest period that I’ve ever stuck with any kind of expenditure tracking/budget program – so I’ve been thinking about the impact that it has had. I won’t delve too deeply into money stuff (and all my associated money hang-ups) here, but while I can’t credit YNAB with magically transforming our spending habits or financial position, it’s helped me to get my ‘head out of the sand’ and as a result feel more in control and less anxious about where our money is going and ensuring that all our major commitments will be met.