I’ve always had an active mind – there’s always something that I have to do; a perpetual to-do list. In fact, the person who gave me a massage last week said that I am so tense I must find it hard to just relax.
I’ve only been in France for five days and already I’m on my second day of just doing nothing and I actually feel quite guilty. I’m meant to be here learning the language; finding out about wine; being touristy and literally today I haven’t really been bothered about doing anything; despite the fact that Tours (my home for the next four weeks) seems to be a beautiful city with lots to do – never mind a World Cup final with my host nation playing.
I spoke to my Mum for over an hour today on Skype. She thinks I probably haven’t unwound from my corporate career life yet and haven’t got it into my head that I don’t have to always be doing something. I’d agree. It was such an emotional run up to when I left that the following day I was literally drained and incapable of doing anything. That feeling lasted over the next week and a half so in all honesty the preparation for France became a bit of a chore – which probably explains why I was feeling sick on the morning that I left.
I’ve spent 17 years working in The City. The only significant time I have had off in that time was when I did a nine week sabbatical two years ago and I remember that it took me three weeks to unwind fully (with the aid of the beach in the Perhentian Islands), so you could say I’m really only on day five and it’s going to take a little longer to just enjoy the freedom.
Last Thursday I posted on Facebook that it was the first time I hadn’t done anything except read, sleep and surf the web in months. In truth that’s because Rex had been sick that morning and I didn’t think it was fair to take him out again. Today is a little similar (given that he s*** squirted on a beautiful street in Le Mans on the way down yesterday – the shame of attempting to clean it up!) so I thought just have a couple of days in without the driving. Although as you can see – he is capable of resting!
After that post my Dad said that I have the ‘benefit of time’ and that I don’t need to rush things. I have plenty of time to learn the language, taste and learn about the wine and do all the sightseeing and pretty sure that come tomorrow or Tuesday I’ll be up out and exploring.
But I figure I had to do something today. So I’ve put up the outside tables and sun lounger; little achievements on my my way to uncorking the finer things of relaxation!
Uncorking The Finer Things 