All things must change that is inevitable. We change as people, our needs change, what we think, feel, believe and desire changes also. Change is growth and it can be both exciting and frightening and so it is that change brings me here to farewell this page.
I should have known me enough to know that I was not going to retire quietly - with all good intentions to do so my mind just ticks over and I need to keep it busy. Productive busy , challenged busy , not dog tired over worked busy, there are different stages and "vibes" of busyness I was going for the busyness of pleasure. With that in mind I decided to do some study - it turned out to be the best decision I have made for me. The positive I discovered is the mind is still active and inquisitive and I love to learn. I also am fascinated by people and creativity and after a life of work in the "rescue" or support industry of community services , I am venturing into the realm of play, art, mindfulness and holistic practice.
" There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they are falling in " Desmond Tutu
Yesterday I graduated as a student of Holistic Integrated Creative Arts Therapy in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by lovely people, sharing food, creating nature mandalas, creating art and celebrating our collective "journey."
And now as my energies will shift in a new direction I have decided to close down this web / blog page. I was never really active enough or committed enough to make it all worthwhile. To busy living life and fluffing around :)
I would like to thank all who have read my posts, sent nice messages of support and supported me in my writing musings. My book The Suitcase continues to sell and I had another print run a few weeks ago, it still is a pinch me moment that this happens. I still write but these days I have returned to an old fashioned journal and pen, I find I write with more freedom that way and it is easier to just write anywhere I feel the need.
So as I bid you farewell I will share a sneak peek of my lovely new logo and business name.
They say every great idea starts with a single dream and "Outside the Lines" definitely grew this way. I had the name for the business before I even knew what the business was , so if you believe in visualisation and putting thought into action and out to the universe – well here I am.
I was having a tidy up of the garage one day and came across something I had kept of my daughters. Many, many years ago when she was around eight I had purchased a lovely paint your own T shirt for her. I thought this would be a wonderful thing for her to do , sadly as most parents do, I encouraged her to paint it nicely between all the lines , so that it would look as I expected it to . How do you think that went ? ( please note I did the first few letters to show her how it was done inside the lines, see how nicely I did them )
No matter how hard I tried to encourage her to stay in the lines and match the colours she did the opposite and painted it with nothing but love. My daughter wore this T shirt every day for weeks on end with great pride and it truly sent me twitchy looking at the mess of the colours "outside the lines" and the total chaos of it all. Part of me suspects she knew it drove me mad but she refused to unlove it and see the mess of it all.
Looking at it many years later as I sorted her memory box in the garage clean up , it really made me smile and I questioned myself as to why it was so important to me to make her conform and stay within the lines. You can see she also added her own additions and flair to it .
I learnt so many life lessons from pondering over that T shirt - and so the name of what my future business would be called was born. I then just had to find what the T shirt and life lessons were leading me to.
It would take a year or so later till I found the answer to my question when I decided to live outside my own lines and returned to study after retirement.
It is strange what lessons are waiting for us to be learnt and where they lead us, proving indeed that we are never too old to learn or follow our dreams.
I am in the process of getting my website designed and ready to go, I'm doing it right this time :)
The socials are ready to go as soon as I start on content and the first of the programs are ready to roll.
Proving you are never to old ( or young ) to change your life purpose and embrace change I am looking forward to living my best life "Outside the Lines".
Once again thank you and from this blog page it's goodbye from me
xx
Jan
for further information you can contact me on the email below :
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