Let me fill you in on how I got to where I am now. As 2021 dawned, I was living in historic Warwick in the Midlands and was celebrating my 11th anniversary in my job. I was happy, but suffering burnout despite calling on a whole host of resources to keep me going - prayer, participation in a coaching club, mindfulness techniques, CBT techniques, enjoying nature and last but not least my husband's endless support. Sometimes, there's no option but to take time and rest and recover.
When R and I got together, we had a vision that one day we would have a home where we could offer paying guests a place of peace where they could take a break from every day life, a sort of B&B-plus, if you will. But - life. The years slipped by and we thought less and less about this plan.
Burnout brings brokenness, but also opportunity: it is the husk splitting to release the first stirrings of new life from the heart of the seed. We realised now was the time, if we wanted to take it. We sold our house, and began the search for a new home - anything, anywhere within 3 hours of the Midlands and 30 minutes of the sea. We were too worn out to consider our vision and had almost given up when we found it: a house in mid-Devon with room for guests. And so August 2021 saw us setting off down the M5 in convoy, with the removal van not far behind.
Of course, plans took longer than we thought. Recovery from burnout is slower than you expect - I needed so much sleep. The house had more to do than we anticipated. R, who worked remotely anyway, continued seamlessly in his job and I found a temporary part-time position to ease me back into working life. As we celebrate our first year here, we find ourselves in a great community among our neighbours and at church, the urgent jobs on the house are done, and I have just launched my new Virtual Assistant Business - Priory Secretarial Services.
What the next year brings, we cannot be sure, but watch this space as our dreams unfold!
