Innocence of Yester Year Seems Out of Place

I have just seen a little girl learning to ride her bike. The scene was at once extremely familiar, and yet as I watched her, I realised how the little girl on her bike seemed totally out of context to the surroundings that she found herself in.

Let me explain further. You see, the scruffy little one must have been about 12 years old. She was decked out in a long, thick, soft pink coat that was a few sizes too big for her and reached past her knees, threatening to get caught in all those parts of the bike that seem hungry to grab a hold of just such a tempting morsel of clothing. She had a pudding bowl haircut, very unlike the styled cuts I see on youngsters these days. Barefoot and standing up on the pedals of her over sized single speed postman bike, she was struggling against the friction of the road and the large tyres, the concentration etched on her face.

Balancing on those pedals and being out of the saddle while trying to get enough momentum to keep the bike upright could not have been easy, but her natural instincts – so seldom called into play for most youngsters – had her leaning slightly forward to keep her centre of gravity. This meant carrying a lot of her weight on her arms which were splayed out wide to grab hold of the over sized handle bars of cold shiny curved steel, her small hands white-knuckled around the plastic grooved grips that were worn smooth over the many years of previous riders steering the bike all about town.

There was a slight wobble to this whole scenario, but not like you normally see with a youngster learning to ride today where they can sommer put their feet down to stop a fall. I should think this little ragamuffin had simply grabbed the only bike available to her, or as in the olden days, she had managed to get her hands on a big’ bike - so much more alluring and exciting than a children’s bicycle. No bright yellow easy-to-ride prissy little bikes for this tough nut. She was gritting it out on this old iron horse, that concentrated expression showing brief glimpses of pure joy before slipping back into the more earnest work of staying upright.

This image was one of days gone by for me and I have not seen this type of riding for a long time. It was a nostalgic surreal few seconds that was initially so calm and natural and then when I came back from my reminiscing, it looked so incredibly out of place. As if I was on a movie set or back in a small Karoo town and not the city bowl of Cape Town.

Illness on Your Agenda?

Do you live in the city? Would that be the city of Cape Town?

Good decision, its a fantastic place to be. For a large city it has some of the cleanest air in the world. As a local you know that is because of the prevailing summer South Easter and some Stormy conditions in the winter that come through and blast all the gunk away, keeping our skies blue and helping us stay healthy.

What's that you say? You are not feeling very healthy at all, and in fact you are reading this from your laptop while sitting in bed sipping on some form of meds, to wash down some other form of pills, to battle that flu or cold that has been taking you down over the last few days. Well then read on as that's what this blog is all about.

Although the special city of Cape Town has super advantages due to the natural weather conditions (as mentioned above), the fact remains that it is a hugely populated megalopolis (that is not something you can eat, nor an extinct dinosaur or even teenage speak, but rather a cool word bestowed upon an urban place like ours once it reaches a certain amount of inhabitants) with over 4 million people calling it home.
With so many people about, there are bound to be more than your fare share of opportunities to catch some of those freely available germs and viruses that hop so efficiently from elevator button, to door handle to key board and then fingers and nose (or a myriad of other combinations your colourful mind may conjure up).
Add to this the relatively new found and ever growing popularity of Cape Town and the consequent influx of foreign tourists, and you can also add a whole new bunch of 'getting sick' opportunities.

This is certainly not a negative point of view with regards to tourism nor peoples hygiene habits, but rather a reminder that a reality of living in a place such as Cape Town comes with, what should be seen as somewhat of an expectation, that you will be exposed to the chance of getting sick.
It's not rocket science, although we do tend to fall into a comfort zone pretty quickly as our minds get lazy about these sorts of bothersome facts.

I am sure this is something many people can accept, the fact that living in a city you are exposed to sickness. What I find strange is our expectations of being able to shake these very sicknesses on our own agenda. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of positive thinking and general mindset and its' role in helping heal as well as helping to keep us healthy. However when I see how many people are so impatient about getting well I do feel we are loosing touch with what is real as apposed to what we have concocted in our own minds to be the-way-we-want-it.

Lets say you get ill on a Tuesday. Well it started with perhaps a tickley throat on Monday, but the sun was still out so you knew it could not be a cold so you put your concern on the shelf for another time.
Then Tuesday welcomed you with grey skies and blustery winds and you knew you were sick. Perhaps flu. So now you are thinking about the Doctor and what you are going to do to get well as you just don't have time to be ill and whats more you have a function to go to on Friday after work and another on Sat morning that you are dead keen to attend.

THAT I am afraid, is where we get it wrong.

By all means spend some energy on giving it a good go to get well, but how in the world do you really expect to let outside events and happenings on your social calendar dictate whether you are going to get over an illness? It really is bizarre behaviour by us human lot. Behaviour that I have little doubt many a species would shake their heads at if they could comprehend the self contrived supposed realities in our selfish heads.

The fact that you have a 5km run on the weekend or a soccer match to play in does not decide when you should expect to feel better.

Surely a better option is to do what you can to help yourself recover from the sickness as far as medication is concerned and to feel okay about feeling like %^*&, but to have a positive mindset to fight it like anything to get better as effectively as possible.

Let go of the stress of being sick, its bound to happen and you don't own it so don't expect to disown it. Catch yourself in the moment of trying to dictate your getting well clock and relax a little about being ill. It will be a far less excruciating experience.

A change would do you good...

About a month ago I found myself feeling a bit dull, anxious and generally unenthusiastic about my life. I decided the only way I was going to feel better was to make a few changes, So I sat down and made a list…

Here are some of the changes I have set out to make in my life (and how I am trying to keep them up):

1. Make better food choices- If I can’t make my own food, I try make healthier choices when I eat out (note: Wellness Warehouse in Kloof street has a fabulous buffet). When I crave chocolates I rather buy a yogurt or some fruit to get a sugar fix. I try to eat smaller portions. I try to stay away from anything deep fried, frequent caffeine drinking and processed food.
2. Do more exercise – I found that I was starting to get into a life routine that didn’t make any time for exercise. Now, I have started trying to do some form of exercise nearly everyday (yup, I said everyday). I have started jogging and walking in the evening when the weather allows - I try to go out for at least 15 to 20 minutes (its great thinking and music listening time). I try to head to the gym at least twice a week (for a change). When I feel too unmotivated to get out and exercise, I do my own home exercises (like: stretching, ball exercises, squats and lunges)

3. Drink more water - I now take a bottle with me to work everyday and try to drink at least 1 litre of water during my work day. Having a bottle on my desk reminds me drink water at work. Click HERE to read tips on how to drink more water everyday.
4. Pop good pills - I have started taking vitamins daily. As much as I try to eat healthy I don’t always get all the nutrition I need from my diet. I also find that taking Salmon Oil (Omega 3)has been making a huge difference to my hair and nails.
5. Clear all the clutter –When my environment is cluttered I find myself less productive and more anxious. Its amazing how good it feels to walk into a organised space. I have resolved to keep my work and home spaces as free from clutter as I can (notes: I have found its best to set out a whole day to just focus on cleaning and sorting out a cluttered space. Start with one room at a time. Dont be afraid to throw away things. Donate things that others can use).
6. Stop sweating the small stuff- It seems so easy to say but so hard to do. The way I have started to help myself stress less about silly, little things is by changing my attitude. Now I am starting to see if it’s something little and not actually a crisis its best to just remain calm and let it go. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.......which leads me to my next change....
7. Think positive things - Its so easy to let the world get you down and make you negative. I dont want to be negative anymore... I dont want to hold onto negative thoughts and feelings. I have resolved to speak more positively, think happy thoughts and let go of things that make me think negatively. Like Budda says: "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

Some people say a change is as good as a holiday and I am finally starting to believe that is true…..

What positive changes do you want to make in your life?