#50finethings 1 – 5

When it did finally come, the end of the pandemic arrived at 6.00am on Saturday 22 January, without much warning.  That is to say, the restrictions were lifted as the government lost control of the containment plan and gave permission for the virus to wade freely through the population, at will.

“We beat the virus!” said the Humans.

“OK,” said the Virus.

Two years’ worth of celebrations was a lot to ask of one Saturday night, which is why many stayed at home.  In the end, the city was busy but not overrun, and most were home before dawn.

Maybe it’s all over, but apprehension is understandable. 

For two years we’ve been conditioned to think we’re complicit in murder every time we leave home, so an adjustment period may take some time.  Maybe it’s scary going back to normal, because normal wasn’t that terrific for many people, in the first place.

I’m about to do a stock check.

It seems like the right time to look at the things that fill up my life and to decide what I’m happy with, less happy with, and fed up with.  I’m going to reflect on the segments of my life, with love, and have a bit of a clear out.  #50finethings is an honest evaluation of life in my 50^th year:  with its resolutions, evolutions, and mezarooshans.

On Saturday, driving back from the climbing wall, I asked Julia how often she would like me to write an update on my #50finethings project.  I suggested once a month, or just once at the end of December.  She said she would prefer weekly updates and a final evaluation in December.   Obviously, that’s not going to happen, and with that in mind:  every new moon I will write a short update about how I’m getting on. 

I don’t really know what this project is, where it will go, or what will emerge. 

We’ll have to wait and see. 

I’m also aware that all the things I do with my days, are reliant on the fact that we live in an immorally, unequal world.  Today is the first of February, which is St Brigit’s day in Ireland and, New Year’s Day in Mongolia.  Today is an excellent new moon on which to give my first updates.

These are my #50finethings, so far:

1. Read

I love to read.  I wonder if there’s anything I enjoy as much as getting absorbed in a new book, story, and the characters I learn to know.  I’ve read so little over the past two years, and I would like that to change in 2022.  Following an idea by Jackie Lynam, I’ve decided to read 50 of the 100 short stories in The Art of the Glimpse edited by Sinéad Gleeson.  So far, I’ve read Under, Two in One, Sometimes on Tuesdays, Antarctica, and Women are the Scourge of the Earth.

This is my new Saturday morning pleasure, and it will be one of my #50finethings, and it makes me smile to think so.

2. Run

I love to run outside.  I run slowly and not very far, but sometimes there’s a moment when the breathing, landscape and thoughts all evaporate and it’s just the shadow of the run, moving with itself.  I run a 5 or a 10 km route a couple of times a week, and I never regret going outside.  When I’m not running, I feel the slow irritation burn within, and the clouds start to gather. 

This year I’d like to run a total of 1000 km, which is the distance between Dublin and Paris.  Maybe I’ll get stuck halfway and need a hip replacement just outside of virtual Dover.  Maybe I’ll arrive in Paris, ahead of plan, and do a lap of honour around the Champs-Élysées.  We won’t know until I’ve tried.

Either way, I did 120 km in January, and it’s one of my #50finethings.

3. Write

In her wonderful book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about the benefits of a daily writing practice.  She suggests that everyone should write a few pages every morning before the day begins.  These pages are streams of consciousnesses rather than edited stories, or pieces to return to.  

Just writing, that’s all, simply writing.

I did it years ago, and then I forgot how much I liked it, so I’ve started doing it again.

It’s one of my #50finethings and it’s going quite well.

4. Pick up litter

I realise that picking up the litter from my street, for an hour every second Sunday, isn’t going to prevent the impacts of climate change.  I am also aware that personal responsibility can never compete with much needed corporate and political systemic change.  That said, picking up rubbish is good exercise, shows my neighbours I love our street, prevents me from complaining about said litter, and allows random strangers the opportunity to tell me how marvellous I am. 

Also, I get to wear a HiVis vest. 

Ideally, I’d love a clipboard and a walkie talkie too, but for now the HiVis vest will suffice.

In 2022, I will collect 50 bags of rubbish for the An Taisce’s National Spring Clean 2022 campaign, and it will make me happy to do so.

5. Only apologise for things we are to blame for

Welsh people, women, migrants, and the working-class apologise too often, for things we are not to blame for.  We apologise to people on the street who bump into us, to people who are late for meetings, to colleague who don’t return our emails.  We start sentences with the words, “I’m really sorry to bother you,” and we apologise for the rain.

This year I am going to be a polite, courteous, and respectful human being and I am also going to stop apologising for things I am not to blame for.  

I feel excited and unsure.

I don’t know what all this is about, but let’s find out together.

You can join me if you like, and do your own 50 fine things, or you can sit back and relax, and watch me do mine.

That’s also fine.

Let’s see how we get on.

I’ll see you on the next new moon with my updates.