Thursday, 28th of December 2023 [111]
As this post is published I am driving across the Europe in the opposite direction than on the 8th of December when my journey to Poland started. I’m probably somewhere in Germany, deep in thoughts about my holiday, my NYE plans or life in general.
I like driving. It’s a perfect time for refelecfions, as apart from paying attention to the traffic, which after driving for 20+ years is pretty much like following the instinct, there is nothing else to do.
2023 has been a hell of a ride. A part of me wants this year to pass as soon as possible and forget about it even sooner. The other part realises it has been an important year for my growth and for my health.
Of course, I’d rather come to the same conclusions about my health without hugely inconvenient healthy issues that pestered me for the better of 2023, but in truth, my ex partner was highlighting many of my bad habits long before those issues started, I just wasn’t willing to hear any of his advice back then. At least not fully.
Spending a few days in Toruń with my auntie and her family made me realise even more how important our health is. My uncle wasn’t suffering with any major health issues, before his heart attack, but smoked throughout his life and he also wasn’t the most active since he retired around 10 ywars ago.
I’m very happy to see that my dad keeps up his habit of daily walks and occassional gym visits and that he sometimes manages to convince my mum to join him for a walk too. Physical activity really is important to keep our heart in a good health.
I also complimented my mum on a very simple dish she prepared one day and advise her to do this dish more often as well as include more veggies in their diet. I also left them one jar with huge amount of kefir grains and instictions of how to make their own to enrich their gut bacteria.
It was really nice to finally visit my cousin in her place, as I haven’t done so before. I can tell that everyone was very happy with my visit, including my niece.
Only my gut was not impressed with a type of food I was serving it, as soon enough first couple hives and swealings turned up, showing my how fragile my new found healthy balance really is if I decide to indulge in food I’m not supposed to be eating and/or let the stress of life get the better of me.
I’ll spare you a sight of my swollen face after this indulgence, but I’ll keep it in my phone gallery as a reminder!
One way I found to calm my overactive brain during these holidays was doing jigsaw puzzles. I did a few with my cousin back in Toruń and she gave me a box to take home to my parents and play with them there.
Mum was resisting, but eventually she jumped in and helped me group the lieces by colours at least. For the next few days she’d come and watch me do them and every time she’d say:
‘Oh, you’ve done so much already!’
And finally the day has come when I completed them indeed. I guess it took me around 4 days to complete 1000 pieces.
During my walks with dad he insisted I take a picture of a weirdly shaped tree he sees as he walks by. He’s been telling me about this tree for months, so I had to capture it one of those days.
Apart from my family, I only visited one childhood friend - Ewa and her 2 cats. The white/grey one has a beautiful blue eyes, but he’s not too keen on coming close enough for me to capture them. He likes to keep his distance.
That visit made me realise that I’m really not weird or alone in the way I feel/think. I had no idea my friend shares many of the same sentiments as well as struggles with guilt for everything she does and doesn’t do. It seems that the environment we both grew up in has added greatly to how we feel as adults and we both have a long way to go to regain some form of peace in our 40’s.
Of course my visit would not be complete without a shopping trip to a nearby town. That visit had an article of its own and one more in the making, but there were more than one of those visits, so I still have plenty to share.
Snow came again and was gone in just a day later, but I managed to take enough snowy pictures for a few posts.
The presence of snow just in time for Chistmas eve sure made me a happy girl 😍
As well as my dad preparing my favourite dishes a day ahead of schedule by mistake, which let me enjoyed these for longer and I also have a few portions to take home with me!
The honour of decorating xmas tree was all mine and I finished just in time for our modest supper which I absoluted loved, as it consisted of few traditional vegan dishes and no food was wasted during the whole Christmas.
A little indulgence came later, when I visited my friend Ewa again, as she was spending Christmas Eve by herself. A moderate indulgence I must add. Just couple pieces of cake and a delcious winter tea.
Her second cat was produly wearing her Christmas jumpsuit for this occassion 😁
Yesterday was a good walk finally with both of my parents, as I managed to convince my mum to join us for this farewell walk in full moon.
It was touch and go for a while, as the rain just started when we first for up for that walk, but we waited a little while and mum was still IN for the walk, so I was happy!
Houses were still nicely decorated and towards the end of a walk I had a surprise meeting with a friend from my college times. She recognised me from far away. Said My haven’t changed at all in those 20 years and even my voice sounds exactly the same as back then and that’s how she initially recognise me. I was a little embarrassed that I could remember her name - Ania. I did recognise the face though!
I had 2 more things in mind to write about today, but it’s getting really late and I have a very early start tomorrow, so I better leave those reflections for another day. They will be perfect for when I write about my 2024 goals!
| Camera: | iPhone11 |
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| Photographer: | @fantagira |