Things To Be Grateful For (Not Including The Usual Airy Fairy Fluff)

Things To Be Grateful For (Not Including The Usual Airy Fairy Fluff)

Are you are feeling a little blue or under the weather? Do you wake up in the morning and feel as though you know there are more things to be grateful for but you can’t quite put your finger on what they are?

It goes without saying that you are grateful for your family, the air, the food on your plate— all the usual stuff; but that’s not what this list of things is about.

This post is about you (and I) discovering the things that we can be grateful for; the things that aren’t always obvious.

The nitty-gritty.

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Taking A Break From Social Media. Because You’re The Boss NOT The Puppet.

Taking A Break From Social Media. Because You’re The Boss NOT The Puppet.

Can you remember what you did with your time before the internet gave birth to social media? 

My husband refers to facebook as waste book.

It wasn’t until a few months ago, after suspecting that my sleepless nights, anxiety and mood swings were being made worse by the headache of ‘keeping up’ and that taking a break from social media was what I needed to do, did I realise that he was right.

Damn it. I hate it when that happens.

 

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Starting Something New. Slightly Terrifying (But Awfully Exciting!)

Starting Something New. Slightly Terrifying (But Awfully Exciting!)

Are you starting something new? Going through a major overhaul in your life? Perhaps you are putting the feelers out; tentatively testing the waters to see how people will react to your new idea.

Maybe you are in the midst of taking a break from social media and it feels massive.

The past four months have been some of the most challenging, exhausting, exciting, terrifying and emotional times of my life. Because I have changed path and have been intent on starting something new. Just to keep life interesting.

I’m a bit of a nutter like that.

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One Harsh Truth About Travelling The World.

One Harsh Truth About Travelling The World.

We are all over the internet.

Families like us who have thrown everything in the air and set about to travel the world. We start a blog and fill it with beautiful Insta pics.

The mother (quite often in a long white flowy dress, with her perfect set of gnashers; smiling as she bathes her tiny feet in the Trevi fountain) the father (usually wearing a linen shirt and looking at wifey adoringly) and the kids (never once staring into their phones and pretending instead to like each other).

The perfect travelling family blog.

But here’s the thing.

Last year we were that family. Just with a few little tweaks added.

I don’t own a white dress, my husband is always scowling because he can’t find his glasses and my kids hate each other’s guts. Mostly.

 

For Pinterest ⇓

Quitting your job to travel the world. The truth. Pinterest

 

 

A Travelling Family Blog. The Dark Truth That Nobody Warns You About

 

Last year, our family (me, hubby,  two teenagers) decided to quit our jobs, rent out the house and start something new.

We travelled the world for a year; left everything behind and spent twelve glorious months exploring countries that we had only ever seen in the films. And it was the best decision we ever made.

But.

Unlike some family travel blogs, I have to tell you the truth.  In case you are thinking of doing the same crazy, wonderful life-changing adventure as we did.

There is one thing that nobody warns you about when you set off into the horizon with your kids. Something that those who have gone before you fail to tell.

 

How hard it is to come home.

 

Family travelling the world. What nobody tells you

No white flowy pants here. Just a few honest truths about what it’s like to travel the world

 

That small unspoken truth that gets brushed under the carpet. Packed away in the spare room cupboard with the empty rucksacks. People don’t want to talk about that.

The reality is that coming home after travelling the world is like coming off a bucket load of happy pills overnight.

It’s rubbish.

My happy pill is to travel. Particularly travel with my family which I have been doing for the past 12 months. Backpacking around the world with my husband and two teenagers. We rented our house, quit our business and off we went.

It was a midlife crisis on my part. And a bloody good one too.

But last week we came home after 370 blissful days on the road.

And it was sh*t.

After seeing my family and close friends, playing with my dog and marvelling at how many clothes I had, everyday life was pretty depressing for a good few days. 

It was as if I was cloaked in fog. Everything seeming strangely familiar yet massively alien.

I didn’t want to phone the vets and contend their latest bill.

I didn’t want to fork out $300 on a set on front tyres for the car.

I didn’t want to own a fridge with double doors or sit on a deck that needed staining.

No.

I wanted to visit the Taj Mahal and climb treelined hills that lead to hidden temples. I wanted to read out loud to my kids behind a Croatian church in a forest. I wanted us all to stand in the middle of the train station in Tokyo and marvel at the peacefulness of it all.

 

 

Travelling family outside the Taj Mahal. A blog

Travelling the world is anything but normal. It is exciting and different. It is hard and easy. It is the best thing that ever happened to my family

 

 

But that’s not what normal life looks like.

Normal home life requires you to worry about whether or not your kids will get into college and if the recycling bin takes glass bottles.

Normal life is answering “busy,” when a neighbour asks how you’ve been. Normal life is moaning about the cost of fuel. And vet bills.

 

How People React When You Come Home From Travelling

 

The people you leave back home, those that don’t travel themselves, are never really interested in your travel tales. Not really.

They will feign interest because that’s what they are expected to do. It would be rude not to.

They will smile politely and nod in all the right places but they are itching for you to finish your sentence so that they can get on with telling you their news.

While you were gone the number 4 bus stopped running on a Wednesday and that nice guy that owned the cafe in the village? Well, he sold it to a Chinese couple. For a pittance.

Meh.

 

Not to worry. Two weeks on and  I’m happy to say that my mood has improved. The future is looking exciting again. We are making plans to move forward— a new business to incorporate travel into our lives.

And the vet knocked $50 off the bill.

So be warned. If you are going to throw everything in the air, quit your job and run for the airport with your knickers on your head, be prepared for the return journey.

You might want to invest in a pack of Pampers nappies for when you come home. The big ones.

 

Liz Deacle

 

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Related Posts That You May Enjoy

How people on a regular wage afford to travel the world

How we saved ten grand on accommodation in Europe

How to live a life of travel with kids who want to go home

Arrive looking gorgeous. 10 Plane essentials that you’ll thank me for

 

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