It's New Year's Eve here in Malta and I thought I should mark the end of 2008 with a brief post. The photo that ends the year is of a rainwater pool in the garigue on the walk from Birzebbugia to Ghaxaq.
This year I stopped putting all my energy into paid work as I had been doing for over forty years of my life. It took me a remarkably short time to find new structures to give shape to the expression of my energy. I realise now that this blog, set up in May/June as I began my year of travel, has been one of those structures and I am so glad that my niece, Sholeh, had the foresight to encourage me to do it.
It has taken me longer to start working out what my priorities might be in this new, self-directed phase of my life. It looks as though I am settling into the life of a grey nomad at least for a few years. Packing up all my household goods and planning what I had intended as a 'gap' year of travel to mark my retirement from paid work has been a great opportunity to start thinking about what I actually need in life. With my possessions mostly packed away, I now have the chance when I return to Australia at the end of May to sort through all that 'stuff' and pass on the things I no longer need.
The sorting out of tangible possessions is somehow connected to the transfer of the investment of my energy over my life. My household was established with the funds from my paid work and supported my input of energy in that direction. Now I can draw down on that resource and get rid of the things I no longer need. What I still have to work out is what I do with any accumulated resources once I no longer need them to support my own life. I want to know that in a small way, my life's energy will contribute to the continuation of a more just and sustainable world.
A priority for me now is maintaining connection with family and friends. This blog helps with that, but I also need face-to-face contact and my friends and family are scattered throughout the world. This means that I have to keep travelling in order to maintain established relationships but travelling makes it more difficult for me to build new social connections. This is one of the factors that leads me more and more strongly towards making Malta my base where I can build a sense of community as well as being in a more central space from which to visit and be visited by.
So 2008 has helped me to start thinking about all that and 2009 will see me moving further towards putting it all into practice! I wish all my friends and family a good, peaceful year and look forward to talking some more with you.
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