LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY UPDATE #4

cresting the hill

LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

It's catch up time on the blog today - all that's been happening here over Spring. This is the BIG birthday edition where it's been all about a little sunshine, a little rain, a little bit of family, and a lot about my 60th birthday. There's plenty of other happenings, but these are a few of the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.

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LEARNING TO BELIEVE I'M WORTHY OF THE LIFE I HAVE NOW

cresting the hill

WHY DID I STRUGGLE WITH EARLY RETIREMENT? 

After I left work and started to recover my resilience, I noticed that I had an underlying sense of.....I guess it was guilt(?) about being home all day and not being part of the 9-5 daily grind of going off each day to a job. I puzzled over why I had this internal unsettledness with the idea of not earning my way anymore. Was it because it was what I had always done and had thought I would be doing for several more years to come? Part of me felt like I didn't deserve this lovely life I was living - that it was too pleasant and too easy - and there had to be a "catch"....
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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAINT BY NUMBERS

Have you wondered what a paint by numbers kit would be like and whether it would be fun and/or easy to do? Here's all the inside information.

SHOULD YOU EVEN ATTEMPT A PAINT BY NUMBERS?

I started my first ever paint-by-numbers project recently and thought I’d write an honest post about what it’s like and how to begin one successfully. This isn't a sponsored post, it's just me sharing the sort of information I was looking for when I was thinking about trying my hand at one of the paint by numbers projects that were popping up in my Facebook feed.

First of all, I would definitely advise that you don’t bother starting one if:
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"THE GREAT RESIGNATION" AND EARLY RETIREMENT

cresting the hill

THE GREAT RESIGNATION

Recently I read an article on how the pandemic has affected the way people perceive their work/life balance and it's instigating fundamental changes. Facing mortality means thinking about your priorities, and for those who are unhappy in their workplace, it's bringing about a change, and that change is resulting in a surge in people quitting their jobs. This new phenomenon is being called "The Great Resignation" - a term that originated with Anthony Klotz, a Texan psychologist. Millions of people around the world are quitting their jobs - or reassessing what they want from their work environment.

All of this is interesting to me because the pandemic played a part in my decision to step away from the paid workforce and into early retirement. Lockdown gave me time to reassess - and like many others, that meant a big change in mindset....
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TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT REALLY MATTERS

cresting the hill

TURNING 60 AND DECIDING WHAT MATTERS

On Thursday I turn sixty - and I still can't quite get my head around it. I'm not even sure I can claim to be "Cresting the Hill" anymore.....because sixty is a whole new decade and it feels like the gateway to the next season of life. Maybe it's because I think of my Mum as being sixty and then get this "Wow!" moment when I realize that it's me that's reached that vast age - and I'm not 35 anymore.

Hitting a new decade has always felt a bit daunting for me, but this one feels different in some ways. Maybe it's because my fifties were all about discovering myself again (or for the first time?) and now I get to see how that plays out in this new stage? One thing that really hit me is a quote that I saved a while ago (I actually saved it twice without realizing it was the same quote - so it must have had a big impact on me). It really sums up how I want to approach this next phase....
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IF MY 50'S WERE A GARDEN...THIS IS WHAT I'VE CULTIVATED

cresting the hill

COMING TO THE CLOSE OF MY 50'S

In a little over a week's time, I won't be in my 50's anymore. A new decade looms and I'm a little bit daunted, a little bit excited, and a little bit nostalgic for what I'm leaving behind. When I hit 50 I was in a completely different frame of mind. I was in a job that was 'wash/rinse/repeat' and I could do it in my sleep, my kids had flown the coop and were happily doing their own thing, my marriage was heading towards a hurdle, and I felt a little lost.

Fast forward ten years and I can't believe how much that decade taught me. I feel like a completely new person, I'm more confident in who I am, I'm no longer working, I've watched my kids make great choices, I'm a grandmother, my marriage survived its crisis and is going well, and I'm much more "me" than I've ever been. Looking back, I'm grateful I put the time and energy of my 50's into cultivating a life that feels authentic, and one that I love. Today's post is all about the garden I've made my life into...
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SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING IN THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

cresting the hill

SIMPLE LIVING, HIGH THINKING

I came across the words "simple living, high thinking" the other day and they resonated with my concept of how I'd like to live the second half of life. The expression is attributed to Mahatma Ghandi, or some say it's the Indian guru and yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda (1893-1952), who had said:

Plain living and high thinking should be your goal. Learn to carry all the conditions of happiness within yourself by meditating and attuning your consciousness to the ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new joy, which is God.
Whoever said it, I like sound of it, and how it's going to play out in the years ahead. I'm hoping it will look something like this.....
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HOW TO SEPARATE YOUR SELF-WORTH FROM THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS

cresting the hill

RISING ABOVE THE OPINIONS OF OTHERS

Our daughter is currently working as a Head of Department and regularly deals with difficult people and uncomfortable situations. I'm in complete and utter admiration of how she stays separate from the issues, doesn't get caught up in them, dragged down by them, take them onboard more than necessary, or carry them home on her shoulders. She rides the waves of other people's upsets without taking it personally, deals with what needs to be addressed, and then moves on. That's such an admirable quality in my opinion, and one I wish I was better at.

I asked her how she manages to demonstrate self-differentiation so well when I struggle with it still, and this is what she said....
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ARE BLOG YEARS SIMILAR TO DOG YEARS?

cresting the hill

IT'S BEEN ALMOST 7 BLOGGING YEARS

In a few weeks it will be SEVEN years since I started this blog! Sometimes it feels like I started yesterday, other times it feels like I've been writing posts forever. I looked at my stats the other day and I've written 952 posts! That's a lot of my life that's been shared here - the good, the bad, the boring, and probably the ugly too. 

But it got me thinking about how seven blogging years feels so different to seven human years and that maybe they need to be measured on a different scale - much like dog years....
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LIVING MY BEST LIFE EVERY DAY - UPDATE #3

cresting the hill

LIVING LIFE WITH A SMILE EVERY DAY

It's catch up time on the blog today - all that's been happening here over Winter. It's been a wet one for us and that means lots of time inside - or timing it right to fit my morning and afternoon walks in around the rainy periods. There's lots of other happenings, but these are a few of the happy moments that have popped up over the last few months in my life.
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