HOMELY HOMILY

Right here, right now. By Glenn Stevens

I’ve never been one for making New Year’s resolutions, putting unnecessary pressure on myself only to be solely disappointed when I break the promise of whatever I said I would or would not do.

For a long time I’ve taken my cue from how I feel on any given day and embrace the challenge. This really came into the fore for many of us last year as the unpredictability of our lives were thrown up in the air due to Covid-19.

I found that doing something so simple really had a big impact not only on my mental health but on my fitness as well

Thinking back to last year, a few unexpected life changes did come up which I continue to embrace this year.

During the first lockdown, when it was all a bit of a novelty to only have one hour outside to have exercise, I really took to going for a walk. I’m lucky that I have a woodland on the doorstep of my flat so took full advantage of that and rediscovered just how much I enjoyed taking a walk for no other reason than that it was nice to do so.

Once lockdown was lifted, my work encouraged us to walk to work if we could and avoid public transport.

Again I found that doing something so simple really had a big impact not only on my mental health but on my fitness as well. With my headphones on listening to my tunes, I really got into my journey into work and really began to understand the phrase, ‘stop and smell the roses’. To be honest, I didn’t smell any roses, as for some reason roses smell really vile to my nose, but I was really able to appreciate many things that I would have missed sitting on the bus. Be it the change in the seasons as things warmed up, to the different types of dogs or cats who I would lock eye contact with along the way. Walking also took me on different routes to work, allowing me to really appreciate just how quirky Brighton can be.

Giving myself more time to get to work meant getting up earlier and during the summer months that was no problem, plus giving myself extra time just to be with myself inside my own head gave me some brilliant moments to mull things over, think about ideas or sometimes just think of nothing; all of which really had a positive change to my thinking and health.

Now, I would like to say that as autumn gave way to winter I just wrapped up and marched on in much the same way. Well I did on the way to work, but after a long shift and a dark night what I really wanted to do was get home and lose myself in some outrageous plot in Hollyoaks – seriously how many serial lovers/killers/fraudsters can one soap contain? As it turns out, quite a few!

So until spring arrives I’ll keep up my morning walks, plan things for the day ahead and make a note of all the good things I have right here, right now.