My Big Change for
2020
And here is how things have progressed since my last article: Whisper of change..
I was halfway up a mountain in the Snowdonia National Park. I was sat on a bench with the mountain behind me sheltering me from the wind, looking out over the Menai Straits below me
what on earth am i doing in the south east?
This was the loudest cry I had heard inside my head for decades.
resting & reflecting
The sky was a crystal azure blue and the sun shone its warm yellow light, glinting provocatively off the crest of the waves I was watching from above. They glinted so brightly it still made me squint hundreds of feet up.
Where I find beautiful places I can walk to with my arthritis I like to try. Having to stop every now and then to allow the pain to stop screaming from my knees and ankles, I often notice the benches that relatives of departed loved ones have had erected (thank you if you are one of them). I always make a note of any plaque there is and silently wish the deceased a peaceful rest while I am grateful for using the rest they are providing me.
This time, while I’m literally gazing out to sea a sense of peace and calm descended like a warm blanket cloak around me. My shoulders relaxed, my breath slowed and grew deeper and all tension drained away from me.
Where I am now….
Can I manage a big change?
Then I heard it, an urgent, loud, palpable cry well up inside me “What are you doing living in the South East?”.
Without taking my inner voice to task I considered the question. Did I enjoy the hustle from town and city over spilling into the country village I lived in? No.
Did I enjoy that the sense of community I had moved to my village for had all but disappeared? No.
Did I Iike having to add an extra 20-30 minutes to every journey due to the sheer increased volume of traffic? No.
I then considered my options. Being an international professional speaker it is not strictly necessary for me to be based anywhere in particular.
Provided I can get good transport links back into London or an airport I could live anywhere.
Provided I could still get my deliveries (essentials such as Waitrose & Amazon) 
I could live anywhere.
Provided there was a sense of community where ever I chose to live (I am pretty good at making friends) I could live anywhere.
Good medical facilities, access to motorways, tradesmen, cleaners….all the things I use currently that I would be loathe to give up scrolled through my mind.
Big Change Benefits
I considered the differences such a big change could bring.. a slower pace of life, a potential holiday let as a side line, friendly people not to mention the absolutely beautiful countryside.
I could also dredge up my childhood dream of having a small holding where goats, chickens, pigs would roam. I could imagine giving a home to a retired donkey….and then I’d have to get a Shetland pony to keep him company, ooh and how about…..
My imagination produced a picture of a different me: a woman courting a Barbour jacket, hair flying wildly about, wearing trousers held up by a bit of old rope, wellington boots and not a scrap of makeup on (it even tried to show me dirty finger nails but as I lost my fingernails in the train crash my imagination thought ‘stuff that then’). Funny thing is I liked it!
I really could not see any downside to where my thinking was taking me.
So, the crux of this story is that I rushed back home in the South East, have put my house on the market and am now searching for a new home up in the beautiful North of Wales.
And so my lovelies I plan to shift lock stock and barrel soon.
Now you’ve got to admit that’s a big change based on an ethereal voice and a feeling!
