Never too old …

Give me an expanse of water, and you’ll find my footsteps alongside it.  It has been this way for as long as I can remember although, ironically, a non-swimmer, I’m afraid of being immersed in water.
The silver sands of Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia
I’m always interested in what the tides leave behind.  Sometimes, it is a landscape of trees. 
At other times, exquisite perfection in shells and pieces of coral.
Or stuff that appeals to the child in me.

With photography, I’ve been focusing on ‘inner work’ for some years now to the detriment of every day life, the small stuff, that makes my world go around.  This year I decided to turn my attention to my finances and keep track of where I spend the most.  I’m not into apps at all.  I enjoy spreadsheets.  So started 2020, spreadsheet ready.

On reflecting on my expenditure last year it was an uncomfortable truth, I spend too much on books.  I go into automatic mode at the airport.  I clear security and head to the bookshop.  With several trips a month and books costing around $40 each, it was a hidden monthly expense.  I’ve been able to overcome my habit of buying chocolate each time I buy a book (because one cannot read without chocolate, can one?!).  It was difficult but I was able to achieve it.  I now only eat chocolate from Margaret River and I go there a few times a year.  That takes care of the chocolate habit.

My first trip to the airport this year was torture.  The more I thought of ignoring the book shop, the stronger the desire.  I ‘disrupted the circuity’ by telling myself I would go to the Ladies and then to the book shop, 20 minutes before boarding and I set my alarm for this.  At that particular terminal it is a long walk to the restrooms but it is flanked by two book shops.  I had only a few minutes to spare as I browsed the shelves when I came across the book ‘Tiny Habits:  The Small Changes That Change Everything” by BJ Fogg.  I flicked through the pages and, although the theory is familiar to me, it appealed on a personal level.  I nearly bought it when the message of the book became clear.  I needed this opportunity, a tiny change, not to buy the book.  After all I reasoned, if I really wanted it, it would be on the shelf next trip (delayed gratification).  Late one night I searched for BJ Fogg’s work and found he gave a TED Talk some years ago.  Interesting, on You Tube, and worth having a look.

Since that tiny change, each day before I get out of bed I promise myself I will focus on one small thing.  Call it change.  Call it fine tuning.  I call it behavioural cobwebs that need clearing.  They seem to be there, visible, non-intrusive, and one gets used to them until one spring cleans.

So my apron is on, my reach is long, may 2020 unwrap a new me.

May you find creative ways to achieve what you would like to achieve, and here’s to a shiny, new you.

Until next time

As always,

a dawn bird

In response to VJ’s Weekly Challenge – #80 – Habit