Happy 2nd Birthday!

The two T’s, Tash (on the right) and me (Teeny) - born on the same day, three years apart. Not twins, but we usually know what the other is thinking so it often feels like it!

It’s been just over two years since I started this little blog. I had no idea what it would become, much like we had no idea what was about to hit us back in February 2020! It’s been a crazy couple of years, not just for myself, but for the whole of humanity. (on a side note, diesel costs $2.22 a litre today - I like the synchronicity in this, but not the price or the reasons why).

On a personal level, I would have to say it’s probably been one of my biggest emotional growth spurts I can remember. I believe one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself is to start writing - about anything and everything. Originally I started this blog as a place to showcase my photography, and whilst I have certainly done that, it’s been the writing that I’ve probably gained the most from.

Tidal River, Wilson’s Promontory

Writing in my late-forties has helped me process my whole life to date, and it’s a place where I can be curious and learn more about myself and the world around me. I’ve absolutely loved falling down rabbit-holes researching different topics, following a thread that never ends. And I’ve loved creating ‘collages’ of photography, writing, poetry and music. Funnily, I went on a retreat around 2015 and we were required to journal what we envisaged ourselves doing in the future. At the time, I’d been making some collages with ephemera that I’d collected from around the world - things such as vintage pharmacy scripts from Spain, or old botanical cards, or foreign stamps etc (which you can order through ETSY) and I wrote that I wanted to live in a foreign city, where I could rent and didn’t have to look after the maintenance of a property, and where I would have more time to be creative to make collages. It wasn’t until I’d written about six blog posts that I remembered what I’d written all those years ago, and realised that I was now living in Memphis, renting, had very little home maintenance and I was making collages, just of a different kind. How’s that for manifesting power!

Each day, I receive an inspirational message in my inbox from DailyOM. I just love them as they provide a wonderfully positive message to start off each day. This one arrived recently:

“The Train as Metaphor

People can be like trains, making unscheduled stops along the way, but inevitably always arriving at our proper destination.

The rails that crisscross the countryside and cut through cities have long captured people's imaginations. Just the idea of taking a ride on a luxury train, an express commuter line, or a cargo train can often evoke a sense of freedom, adventure, or romance. Trains are like people in that they must inevitably arrive at their destinations. They make scheduled and unscheduled stops along the way and move at their different speeds. Some trains can travel for hours and are mindful of only a single destination; other trains meander from busy stop to busy stop. The route and purpose of any train may change as the years go by.

Our lives stretch out in front and behind us like train tracks, and we are the train, its passengers, and the engineer. The way you choose to live your life and the goals you are working toward are the route and destinations you have chosen. Like a passenger riding a train, you have the choice to get on and off, find new routes, pick new places to visit, or just stop and enjoy the view for awhile. Perhaps you like to move quickly through life as if you were an express train. Or maybe, like a commuter passenger, you like taking the same routes over and over again. You may even want to stop just riding along and choose a different direction you'd like your life to take.

If you have examined the tracks of your life and are feeling unsatisfied, you may want to explore changes you could make to find a more fulfilling path to follow. Perhaps you'd like to slow down a little bit more and take a windier path rather than just traveling down the straight and narrow. Or maybe, you'd like to experience your life more as an adventure rather than just a ride that gets you where you need to go. Changing your route can sometimes give you a chance to "get on the right track." You may even discover that the something new you've been waiting for is just around the bend.”

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, USA

I’ve always been the meandering train (or river as I prefer to see myself), changing directions every so often, going off on tangents dabbling in this and that, never really knowing what the end destination was going to be. At some stages of my life, I’ve seen this as a slightly negative path, and wished I was one of those people that knew exactly what they wanted to do, got on the express train and just went for it. But as I get older (and hopefully wiser), I look back and actually LOVE the slower, more meandering path that I have (unconsciously) taken. It’s created so many different types of opportunities, and some amazing adventures.

West Virginia, USA

Much like my life, this blog has taken on a similar meandering trajectory, where I dabble in this and that and have no clear agena. I’ve explored myriad topics such as travel, religion, politics, photography, motherhood and my personal life, but I think I like it that way. It gives me a freedom to explore any topic I want to and be as creative as I like. I’m beholden to no-one, and that feels pretty liberating. I can be whoever I want to be on the pages of this little blog. It’s deliciously selfish in a way - I write only for myself, and share (to my limited social media friends) just in case someone might get some enjoyment out of what I’ve written.

Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

So, where to from here?

Well, there is a Melbourne photography project that I’m REALLY excited about taking on. I don’t want to divulge too much just yet - home life is still pretty hectic with resettling kids since moving back to Australia, BUT, I hope to share more on that here on the blog very soon. I’ve also dipped my toe back into a little photography study again, so hopefully I’ll start to build up more of a portfolio that I’ll share on my website www.christinadayphotography.com, which is seriously due for an update!

Mostly though, I just want to know myself and the world around me even better - by continuing to be curious and creative. Ethan Hawke says in the TED Talks video below:

“If you want to help your family, If you want to help your community, if you want to help your friends, you have to express yourself. And to express yourself, you have to know yourself. And to know yourself, you just have to follow your love. There is no path till you walk it, and you have to be willing to play the fool.”

(Who could forget Ethan Hawke playing Todd Anderson in Dead Poet’s Society - in particular the ‘Captain my Captain’ scene - making his stance by standing on his desk, and his sad and longing gaze at Mr Keating as he was leaving the classroom at the end of the film. It’s stayed with me forever, and I continue to be affected by his words.)

He says “creativity is vital, and it’s the way we heal each other.”

And here’s the wonderful talk:

I’ll keep sharing interesting articles I come across as well, as I figure if they’ve helped me, then they’re probably going to help someone else as well.

I think the one below is a great one for all of us in this pandemic phase. It discusses major transitions in life - or ‘life-quakes’ as the author calls them. Here’s a few lines from the article:

“Feel like you’re lost or your life has gotten off track? How to begin again.

It happens to every one of us at one time or another: We get stuck in the woods and can’t get out.

What happens when we misplace the plot of our story, when we get sidetracked by a pitfall, a pothole, a pandemic? What happens when we feel burned out and want a fresh start? What happens when our fairy tales go awry and we get lost?”

He asks the questions, ‘how do we get unstuck’.

“I discovered that everybody feels their life has been upended in some way. That they’re somehow off schedule, off track, off kilter. That the life they’re living is not the life they expected. That they’re living life out of order.

I wanted to do something to help. For three years, I crisscrossed America and collected hundreds of life stories from people in all 50 states — people who lost homes and limbs, changed careers and genders, got sober and got out of bad marriages. 

In the end, I had 1,000 hours of interviews and 6,000 pages of transcripts. With a team of 12, I spent a year coding these stories, looking for patterns that could help all of us thrive in times of change.

Here’s something I learned:

It’s critical we reimagine life transitions. Instead of viewing them as miserable periods, we should see them as healing periods that repair the wounded parts of our lives.”

Read below for some more great advice on dealing with these transitions (click on the image):

Ideas.ted.com article by Bruce Feiler (click on the image)

Finally, I want to share with you this snap I took of a dog. She was having a lovely time frolicking in the water and it made me so happy to watch her. The scene reminded me that if we’re doing what we love, we create a ripple effect of high vibration around us.

I’ve loved making these ‘collage’ blog posts over the last two years, so I guess I’ll just keep doing it. Hopefully I’m putting a little bit of positive energy out there in the world.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate you!