Kickstart

An Encouragement to 'Go Again'

We’ve been away, on the road for 17 days. Some of the stuff we normally do just wasn’t possible, so we took a break from the things that shape our day-to-day life.

Now we’re back, we need to get started again. This is a post about kickstarting ourselves, a gentle encouragement, perhaps. It is a Note to Self; a reminder that we don’t need to wait for a ‘new year’ to set out some intentions about the way we want to live.

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Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash

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This is the tale of 3 things.

One I adore … one I love (/hate) … and one is necessary.

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WRITING

I adore writing - I missed it deeply. Yes, I could have used the notebook I squeezed into my paltry baggage allowance to scribble some ideas, to scratch the itch … some writing would be better than none, eh?

Actually, no. The break did me good. In the week we have been back, I have conjured up two pieces of original fiction for my writing project over at ‘Just Write, Right’. They’re good words too if I might be so bold as to say.

Perhaps I needed a break, however much I love the act of writing and the flow of words.

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CYCLING

It’s complicated.

I love cycling. I’m a late adopter, 58 years old, and I set myself a minimum goal of 600 kilometres a month.

It is fair to say there are good days and there are tough days.

Oh, and did I mention we decided earlier in the year to do without a motor vehicle? It’s all fun and games when the sun is shining in our corner of rural France and the pedal to the local market takes us past our favourite boulangerie for pastry and coffee … BUT

And it is a big BUT … the winter is upon us. However layered you are against the wind (the ‘vent sauvage’ as they say in French), it has a way of sneaking through your defences. And it is always, literally always, in your face.

So, I love the downhills, the feeling of strength in my legs, a rhythmic cadence …

BUT, I hate the windy days and the extra effort required.

Needs must though and I am straight back on the bike. The imperative to buy groceries is a powerful incentive. Despite the wind and the rain (and the first frost), I have loved being back on the bike. I truly missed it.

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FRENCH

I don’t love French … I don’t hate it … I don’t even dislike it.

It is just that I am not very good at it and we all like to do the things we’re good at.

I have a pretty good Gallic shrug but I fling words around with impunity, occasionally (entirely through good fortune) getting an appropriate tense or verb construction.

But we live in France, in a rural setting. We have to speak French. It is good manners if nothing else. But also people speak French. They’re French, after all.

I have thrown myself back into it. Flung those words around. Put my apology at the end of the conversation not at the beginning … “Je suis désolé, mon français est mauvais” (I am sorry, my French is bad).

Mindset is everything. I am tackling my discomfort at my lack of language head-on.

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This is a gentle encouragement not to wait for the new year to do the things you plan to do. It is a nudge to get back on the bike, to have a go at the French * - however clumsy and uncomfortable it makes me feel - and it is a reminder that occasionally you need to take a break from the things you love the most. When you return to them, you will love them even more.

* or other language/activity/sport/hobby

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