It was a dark and dreary day, (I've always wanted to write that line!). Rain pouring down, it was as if the day was trying to make us as miserable as possible!  I decided it was an ideal day to stay home, have a leisurely late breakfast and tackle some of the painting I have left undone, forever.  So after breakfast in bed with my latest read 'The Trial of Fallen Angels', by James Kimmel, Jr., which despite the title isn't as dark as it sounds, I got up and dressed for painting.  

I am the messiest painter out there, most of the spare paint somehow lands on me, so I now designate old special paint clothes that I throw out after each job. These days I'm painting the wood ceiling and shelving in my loft, I want to have more light up there all year round.  Like any 'have to' jobs I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time getting psyched up, funny actually as I quite like painting.  It gives me time to think, ruminate over my week, wrestle with problems or just go off on tangents.  There are a few things however that I need to bring with me, first coffee, then water and finally music - to paint I prefer what my sister terms 'bubble gum' music, stuff that I can dance to, stuff from my teen years right up to today and to which I can sing along to as loudly as I wish!!

The music is always upbeat, and allows my mind to jump all over the place - it makes me feel happy.  I think of my younger son who cringes at his aunt and myself and our love of this music, at his brother who understands the genius behind those that can create such sounds and my sister who coined the phrase 'bubble gum' music, I can see her dancing in the night!  

Today, as I painted I thought of a friend who had contacted me during the week to apologize for not being in touch, personal problems she explained.  I had invited her to come over, anytime, we could have a bottle of wine, talk and she could sleep over in one of the kids beds. Her contacting me made me think of how often we don't reach out to others when we have problems.  I'm guilty, are you?  When I first became a single parent, I told no one that my husband and I had split, other than my family and with the closest relative probably over 10,000 km away it was an expensive conversation any day!  I think what stopped me from telling friends was pride and fear of everything, from how would we survive to how would I survive financially?  Don't ask me what telling people had to do with any of those and the hundreds of other reasons I had but then I felt there was a connection!  Mixed in was also relief, and from that relief a little shame that I would feel so!! How crazy is that?  What was actually a good thing for me and my kids, and I told myself that I should feel shameful for feeling relief - sometimes we should smack ourselves for our own foolish self talk.  How much easier would life have been, how much less lonely I would have felt if I had confided in others during those years.  Instead I closed in on myself.  Now I'm not exactly an open book today, but I have learned over the years to reach out

It sounds like that I spent my afternoon thinking somewhat negative deep thoughts, when it was actually lots of fun.  As I said I'm painting the ceiling and I have to do it in stages otherwise I get a bit glassy eyed at the thought of doing the whole undercoat at once.  So each time I go up there I give myself a certain portion to paint, before I'm allowed to go onto something else - like diving into the books I've taken down from the shelves (I can sort and maybe give away a few). Or check out a new pattern, look at my fabric stash and start imaging what I could make.  My challenge is there is so much to play with, and I want to do it all - NOW!  So I need to give myself a goal before I move onto something else - a skill I've learned over the years as I get to know myself better.  Today, I only stopped because I ran out of paint!  

So who do you talk to when you are fearful, or when life kicks you in the knees?  Take a look around, there are so many people out there who are willing to help, you just have to ask!  

So I'm nearly half way through my chocolate-less month and I have to admit it is as difficult as I thought it would be!  Even chocolate covered ginger is out!  Plus after visiting the British sweet store in Victoria this week, I have decided that I have to also cut sugar from my diet.  This came to me as I happily chewed my way up the Island highway!  What was I doing?  I didn't consciously decide, but without thinking I was jeopardizing the good I was trying to achieve by cutting out chocolate for a month.  What a eijit!  (a good descriptive Irish word)

So I've decided that apart my yummy cereal, which is almost all nuts and seeds with a wee bit of honey, I'm cutting out sugar too!  I started this on Saturday and so far so good, I've been replacing the candy with fruit not quite the same, but it is working.  In the meantime, I've been thinking how funny it is that we do this, we make a decision about changing a habit and then test ourselves consciously or unconsciously by doing something to jeopardize what we are trying to achieve.  A book that discusses how habits work and suggests how to change them, is "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.   I read it recently and really enjoyed it.  It gave me the idea to quit alcohol for the month of January and now chocolate in February.  Pressing the reset button!

So as I continue my challenge, let me know what you think.