A close second to the pursuit of love (and who doesn’t want a soul mate?), must surely be attaining inner peace and happiness. That’s not easy in the manic world in which we live where the craziness of email, mobiles, and social media mean we are often expected to be available 24/7.
Last year I started work on my ‘working smarter and not harder’ goal. Yes, it’s not just a saying that magically changes your life! I’m afraid you have to put in a lot of work to ‘set it up’.
So what did I do? Well, for one thing I trusted that family and friends, old and new, would understand that as a typical Gemini I’m always going to take on way too much. I have a full family life with hands-on action with little ones every week; I write – at least two novels a year and have over a dozen published books to promote; I’m responsible for four websites including this one and am managing editor for an online emagazine; I’m chief painter and decorator – side-kick to my other half who does all the hard work, as we renovate an old cottage. We also have a large garden that had to be tamed last year and maintained/improved each spring/summer. I’m also a ‘listening ear’ for a lot of people and that, too, at times can be time-consuming.
But I wouldn’t change a thing. The difference (under my new regime) is that I forgive myself if I can’t be everything to everyone. I do what I can and accept that, after five crazy years of burning the candle at both ends, it’s time to get back to a normal working day. Yes, I do sometimes work late into the night, or through the night, and at weekends if we’re not socialising, but I no longer expect that of myself. I do it when/if it feels right, rather than making myself when clearly I’m too tired.
The second part in attaining that glib ‘working smarter and not harder’ statement, is that I’ve spent six months stream-lining a lot of things I do. Those changes have impacted on other people I work with, and again, I had to trust that they would understand. It has also meant delegating and handing over responsibility for some things. I don’t have a problem with that, but when I know how much work is involved then I hesitate to ask that of anyone other than myself!
Six months on and I’m just beginning to feel the benefits as my life normalises and I get out of the habit of working a sixteen-plus hour day. It’s invigorating and there is a sense of peace and tranquility about it, which = happiness.
My BOOK NEWS is that I will be publishing two new books this year. The first is Quintessentially Yours, the sequel to The Quintessential Gemini.
Katherine Dale lives her life according to her daily horoscope forecast – and the fun continues in book 2.
The second novel is The Man Who Can:
What do you do when your best friend has an affair with the man to whom you’ve been 
married for twenty-five years? The father of your two children and the person you trusted with your heart? Not to mention the best years of your life …
Well, you pack your bags, grab half of the equity in the house you’ve both lovingly restored and run away to an idyllic little cottage in the country.
I suppose not having the cottage surveyed was the first mistake—buying with your heart, and not your head, isn’t the wisest move. The second was moving in six days before Christmas, the day the heavens decided to open and the rain just kept on coming.
Maddie Brooks grits her teeth and hires the highly recommended ‘man who can’, ex-soldier Lewis Hart. As he rips out the very shabby, and decidedly not-so-chic kitchen, reality sets in. Not only is he the most abrupt person she’s ever met, but the man is a Neanderthal!
As the flood waters rise, and the village is cut off, everything that could possibly go wrong, does. How bad can it get, Maddie asks herself? Well, that was before she found herself living with no central heating and no kitchen, and the ‘man who can’ as an unexpected house guest.
Hitting the big five-o two days before Christmas, is the final straw. No presents, family or friends – just The Man Who Can, who can’t leave because the flood has now cut off his exit. How on earth is she going to get through this and put her life back together?
Can Maddie Brooks become that ‘fifty-and-fabulous’ woman of her dreams?
What defines YOU? Wife, mother, grandmother, colleague – or is there another person buried deep within, who is struggling to be heard?
What else do I have planned for 2015? Yes, more projects, but I will be watching that work/life balance. But life is also a lot shorter than we all think, it goes by in a flash and I wouldn’t be making the most of it if I didn’t grab it with enthusiasm and joy. If I can work smarter and not harder, then anyone can! Until next time …
