September Wrap Up

Shanti: It is September, I am tired, and Virtually Read continues to be neglected. Still, on the whole, August has been a rather good month, a mix of frantic work and deep rest. I’ve had a few of those moments where you are just filled with complete, utter gladness, that sense that everything is right in the world and always will be, and those are the moments that make it all worth it.

cat selfie

sun on leaves. shar keeps telling me botanical facts, which is great

clouds

this is a RIDICULOUSLY overdue recap because things keep happening in my life so I Let the Side Down. sorry team

That said August was good! It was half holiday, and I learned a great deal about myself through tramping with Shar, going to Te Anau with a friend, and going on a silent retreat. I’ve been thinking lots about my frantic pace of life and feeling like I am probably over-committed but not knowing how to be less committed without maybe being less happy. I’m going to keep this short because there I’d rather post this than rack my brain remembered everything that happened in August.

horsie horsie

sour snake and shar helping me be more snazzy on the streets of Queenstown

Three highlights: a mountain film festival, interviewing a paleontologist, a beach day with my sister and a friend

Three lowlights: not enough sleep, injuring my achilles on a tramp with Shar, cold weather.

Three things that have nourished me: good conversations, trees, plans for the future.

one of the sources of trouble in my life is that I can’t leave a bonfire

Shar:

This month has definitely gone by very fast! I say this about every month though–is this a symptom of getting older?

What I did: the ordinary–Made dinners, handed in assignments in various states of panic, went to orchestra (but barely practiced oops!), went running with various people I like (Shanti and a variety of friends), attended lectures (some were fascinating, some were not, studied for tests.

 

What I did: the less ordinary — a church dinner, a field trip to look at plants (have I mentioned I LOVE plants?), a mountaineering course (I also love mountains), a botany research breakfast thing, runs in the snow, got involved with some volunteering with DOC’s education programme, another field trip to practice data gathering techniques and subsequent analysis, fruit toast (enough said).

walking over bridges and up hills

pose on a rock for points

clouds clouds clouds

And then there was the week of holiday. I got a cold and coughed and struggled to breath through my nostrils for a while. But that was okay, because I got to hang out with Shanti. We went to a lovely beach, swum in said beach and also a cold mountain stream, we read and sunbathed and tramped and baked and she got to see some of my favourite people who are not her. We went to Queenstown for a night. We knew the joy of each other’s company and deep rest.

It has been a month with a lot of stress (about flatting and uni and relationships) but it has also been really wonderful. The holidays were probably my main highlight 🙂 (Just cause of one particular person tbh (Shanti: I really hope that is me)).

it was a good month but a hard month and that is just how life works. how is your September progressing? where are you finding gladness and sacredness?