Tuesday 5 March 2019

How do you measure your achievements?

I have two certificates on my kitchen cupboard door. 

One for a cup cake class I attended in South Africa, another for the golf marshalling in Abu Dhabi on the European Tour.

Doesn't sound like I've achieved much over the past 8 years, but these certificates mean I was and am being successful in our lives abroad.

Have you ever lived overseas? We had no plans to move abroad and only 3 months notice for both international moves and none existent support from my husbands company. It was offered, part of the contract, but managed badly, leaving (mainly) me to sort everything out, from family visas, finding somewhere to live, opening bank accounts, setting up utilities, wading through pages of medical aid information to work out before finding a Doctor and a Dentist. Getting sim cards, sorting the internet, whilst doing school runs, learning to drive on the other side of the road, making new friends and all the while managing our home in the UK, evicting tenants from hell, repairs, building work and all the paperwork and bills. Tax forms as we are registered over seas as a landlord. More recently purchasing a UK property from abroad and managing my mums finances and house move after my fathers death.

I cook, clean, wash, iron, walk the dog, pay the bills, do the food shop, organise holidays, book flights and car hire.

I've achieved a lot for my family and others. I've raised a family of 5 kids into adult hood, they all still speak to me, we spend time together, they come and visit us on their holidays, we keep in touch almost daily.

I just don't feel I achieve much for myself on a personal level. I never seem to have a good length of time to start things before we get visitors or I fly to the UK.

I've sewing projects to complete, a stack of magazines to read, a pile of books accumulating in the lounge, I've a bike a rarely ride and membership at a pool I've not used since the middle of November. There are movies recorded on the TV and a whole stack of Netflix programmes lined up in favourites.

I just don't feel I'm achieving a lot personally. Always waiting around for the next thing to happen, using it as an excuse not to start anything as I may have to give it up, put it on hold to sort something out somewhere else.

Everything I've done and do of the above doesn't actually take that much time to organise and to do now I have a system, but in the early days of both our moves I didn't have the time and energy for a job or studying while I learnt how everything worked. Now everything is set up I have no excuse not to get a job, learn something new, other than my proven fears of having to give it all up at any moment in time, move somewhere new and start all over again.

I'm a great believer if you really want to do something then everything will eventually fall into place, there will be few cons and those that you do think of, you will dismiss as 'not that hard to overcome' So I'm guessing that nothing is really taking my fancy, grabbing my attention enough to make yet more sacrifices to get on and do things.

There's our sons wedding in September and until that event has taken place, I'm just not motivated to get anything new started as I know I'll have to put it on hold or not be able to dedicate the time needed to it, while I focus on more important things.

I guess that's just life. What about yours?

8 comments:

  1. Raising children is the biggest achievement of them all, so well done with that one. I often look at my life and wonder what I have achieved too...

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    1. the kids left home over 4 years ago now, I need to make sure I carry on achieving or i'll stagnate

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  2. Despite all the trappings of material success that we strive for, I think the achievement of raising happy well-balanced humans if probably one of the hardest and most rewarding. My kids are undoubtedly my greatest achievement to date. And I doubt I'll ever top it. I hope mine are still speaking to me when they hit adulthood too! #ItsOK xx

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    1. I don't think as parents we give ourselves enough credit for raising our kids

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  3. You've raised five children to adulthood, they still speak to you, you're in contact on a daily basis and you all enjoy spending time together - reckon that's a great achievement in itself! Plus I wouldn't know where to start in terms of moving to another country, so you should be patting yourself on the back, not feeling like you've not achieved anything! #ItsOK

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    1. the trouble is, I've done all that , achieved and survived, got to make sure i don't stagnate from now on

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  4. I don't think it's until you break it all down that you realise just how much you do. I am very busy and sometimes it gets me down that I don't have enough time to just sit and read a book, but I've made an effort recently to get more organised and it is starting to create a little bit more time for me. Thanks for joining us at #TriumphantTales.

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    1. my biggest problem is there are too many large gaps between being very busy and i need to manage my time more effectively

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