In Your Own Time, Millie

“In your own time Millie.” This is now a stock phrase when we go on our daily walks. I was holding a gate open for her. She carefully sniffed the gateposts, then retreated, deciding she needed to poo. Getting the right spot takes a while, then I have to bag it up. Eventually we made it through the gate.

Millie has two speeds; when she spots a squirrel she’s fast; most other times she ambles. This means that I too have to amble with plenty of time waiting for her to catch up. Much the same as taking a very small child out who’s just learning to walk. The difference of course being that Mum is desperate to get back to the mountains of washing and ironing awaiting her, whereas I can most of the time continue to amble through the day.

Since acquiring Millie and losing the business life has significantly slowed down. I want to encourage my readers to slow down, but I’m only too aware of the enormous pressures so many of us endure every day of our lives, deadlines to meet, bills to be paid, an over long To Do List.

Nevertheless, I have observed only this week, how difficult so many of us make our lives, quite unnecesarily. We take the long way round; we act before we think; sometimes we double up on our workload when we could make our lives so much simpler by a bit of thought, perhaps some consultation. I’m involved in a tricky situation right now where I’m having to take the long way round by having lots of face to face meetings, when telephone, e-mails, Zoom even, would be so much faster and easier, so it doesn’t always work.

Can I encourage you to make a serious effort to follow Millie’s example and slow down? Review the way you do things, talk things over with your partner, and anyone else who can help. The various lockdowns have forced us into lots of new ways of doing things. Don’t throw away the gains. My own biggest gains can come from tidying things up a bit (a lot actually), so I don’t keep losing things. Many of my family and friends plan to spend more time working from home, an option not open to many of us I know. However you’re placed, search for ways to consolidate your gains and find new ways to make life easier for yourselves. Be kind to yourself, and you’ll be kind to others.

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A Blessing

May the guiding hand of God lead you from the busyness and stress of your daily life

To a quiet place, stll waters, where you can rest awhile,

And in that space find peace