Busy busy busy

Jeepers creepers, hello WordPress readers! I’m alive (best check that one first as 85 is undeniably a little bit dicey) and well (hard to believe but true). And I’m busy busy busy. I’ll do a quick run-through of my activities in the last three months but first — “I’m busy and I enjoy my work.”

I say that now. I will keep saying it. I’ve decided to stop saying certain other things that I have been saying all my life, like:

• “I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.”
• “I’m anxious because I’ve got so much on my plate.”
• “I’m flat out.”
• “It’s hard to do all my work because I get so tired I can only work about two or three hours a day.”

I heard myself parroting negative thoughts

Suddenly I heard myself. Those are all negative statements. They are true, except for the first one.

But they are only half the truth. The other half is this: I’m busy busy busy and I like it that way.

• I love my work
• I am delighted to be in demand
• I love new challenges
• I (very nearly) always deliver on time.

Why did I always respond with those words?

Those negative comments always prompted my caring relatives to urge me to do less, not to over-commit, to relax, stop working so hard. Of course they did! What else would you say?

Now I wonder whether I was humble-bragging. Or was I embarrassed to be so happy doing what I call “work” although it is at least 50% play? Was I afraid they would be jealous?! Talk about deluded — trust me, that would never, never happen.

My new self-CBT

So I’m doing my own cognitive behavioural therapy: training myself to respond to those triggers in a different way. So far it feels fabulous! I think I have been making myself anxious, exacerbating it by articulating it. Luckily you can teach an old dog new tricks: I’m learning to think a new thought and do something new.

What have I been doing lately?

Well now. Two theatre groups are performing my play this year, one right now in Auckland and one in Timaru in May. So that involves a bit of planning and travel and fronting up for Q&A sessions, etc. I also am taking the opportunity to get a small workbook printed for a possible pilot programme later in the year. Here it is: YEAY, YOUR EASY AGING YEAR. Very satisfying!

Other things I’m committed to in the next two months are co-running a workshop at a dance symposium in Christchurch, participating in a three-day workshop on falling safely, assisting at three workshops run by Massey University professors.

I’m working on a couple of projects, lots of fun, quite demanding but with no deadlines.

I’ve had workmen here, putting in a new door and for painting and plastering

I‘m loving my work with the podcast: I’ve prepared 7 episodes and have just the last one to edit.

And I decided to join SubStack and start my own newsletter. My poor neglected newsletter subscribers only ever got about three newsletters via MailChimp! I do think SubStack is a good place for my next phase of writing so if you like what I do, please subscribe. You can do this for free, and get everything to your mailbox if you choose. Or you can pay a small amount just to encourage me to continue. They have a simple system.

I’m fond of WordPress.com and you, my readers

So why am I starting on Substack, which will probably take more of my time? Well, every medium has its own cycle of growth and change. Among other things, algorithms steer us into smaller and smaller circles of content and readers. So on WordPress.com I have for a some time felt stuck, running on the spot. I need refreshing.

My SubStack: https://rachelmcalpine.substack.com

My podcast: Learning How To Be Old

Today’s episode is about finding those mindful moments in your day. They make all the difference, says my guest Kerene Strochnetter, and I agree with her.

What a coincidence! Crazy busy is Kerene Strochnetter’s book

My thinking (“I’m too busy”) was crazy. Or at least unhealthy. More of those little mindful habits are what I need. Kerene has plenty of good ideas and wisdom in today’s podcast episode.

Crazy busy: If busy is the new stupid, then mindful is the new smart