It’s 6.52am. I’ve been pottering around for about half an hour – slowly moving around the house, putting on clothes, washing my face, drinking a tea, putting away the dishes from last night’s dinner – slowly preparing myself physically and mentally for the day ahead. My first coaching calls starts in half an hour, and today is one of my biggest ‘work’ days, so I am finding sanctuary in the early morning stillness before it all begins.
 
You might remember that about a month and a half ago, I began my trek North to the tropics of Far North Queensland, Australia, with a few adventures and mishaps along the way. I’ve been here 3 and a half weeks now, and while it’s definitely heating up for the monsoon and cyclone season, at this particular time of the morning everything is still so fresh and cool from the night. I love these hours that I have a lone before the rest of my household and world wakes up.
 
I came to Cairns for 2 reasons.
Firstly, exactly 10 years ago I received my degree in Psychology here, after 4 years of studying at the James Cook International University. And I had always promised to return. I suppose now was the time. It’s such a familiar, gentle, easy affair. Despite the heat, I’m starting to think that I want to stay longer.
Secondly, I came because I was offered a beautiful home to house-sit for 6 weeks. Situated up high in the rainforest, overlooking the city, I feel so blessed to be surrounded by a stream of peace and stillness in this part of the world. The time is passing quickly – too quickly – and I know in 3 weeks it’s time to move on again.
 
My original plan (before my van died) was to leave this wet, hot climate early to mid-December and make my way down south to Byron or even Sydney for the New Year. Now, things feel kind of different. There’s a man in my life whom I want to factor into my decisions, and while he is happy to join me on my gypset journeys, he is a more settled creature than I, so things are happening a little bit more slowly. Which I really, really like. It means that I get to focus my time and energy on other things than the journey – such as my business and where I am taking that as we come into the New Year.
 
I love this time of the year, for exactly that reason. It’s a time where we get to look back, take stock and see how far we have come. This year, for me, has been tremendous. It held many, many challenges, I wept many tears along the way, and simultaneously took enormous risks and grew as a woman, a human being, and an entrepreneur. It was all systems go, and while sometimes I felt like I was stuck in the very-fast-spin-cycle of life at times, now, as I take a breath and look around, it all makes sense.
 
So what’s next? I’ve actually got a second house-sit arranged to take me through to the first week of January. That’s about as much forward planning as I need to do right now. In the meantime, I am going to get very, very clear on the direction that I’d like my life to take in the next 6 to 12 months, and start paving the way towards my lofty dreams.
Yep, it’s 6.52am. This is where I’m at right now.
 
What about you? Where are you at right now? And what’s next?