Phoenixing

Well, that’s it. Autumn’s here. Time for a surge of baking and thinking about Christmas – although personally I’m still mopping up after a dreadful summer – and I’m not just talking about the weather. Here, we’ve had two bereavements and a serious diagnosis in the family.

This could have been expected to keep me out of the shipping lanes – except that some beguiling experiences were offered to me. And I couldn’t resist. I’m a freelance journalist, after all.

As a result, I found myself visiting a nuclear submarine (the Astute) in Cumbria, interviewing farmers about rural suicides in Devon and Northamptonshire and whispering to a wonderful horse called Seren in the Cotswolds. All articles will be published this Autumn.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, the thought for the month is: throughout all the traumas, I found that of the two aspects of work/life balance, work was the more restful and restorative!

Particularly the writing bit. The mindfulness required means you come away from writing in a state of total relaxation – with an almost divine serenity. And the truly wonderful thing is: you can go back there at any time. All you need is paper, pen and a story to tell.