Flight of the Phoenix!

I couldn't resist the title of this posting! I have just had my first flight in a glider and absolutely loved it.

It was another Zest outing, this time just for me, as A is on holiday in menorca with his dad. I was really quite nervous beforehand, and even had a dream about it the nite before, where I nearly fell out of the plane. But it was really wonderful and I would love to do it again.

The first flight was to do aerobatics... we did loop the loop and some other fancy manoeuvres, before a very tight landing. The sensation of being upside down at speed was indescribable! Then it was off for a longer glide over a nearby hill, where I could look down on the hang gliders and enjoy the brilliant sensation of feeling as free as a bird. The pilot was great, very reassuring and patient, esp when I had a go with the controls, and set us off towards the ground at a rate of knots! I quickly decided to leave the plane in his capable hands and simply enjoy the ride.

The thing that struck me afterwards was how the fear of the flight very nearly made me not do it, and I could so easily have missed this wonderful time. Fear is a very natural emotion and it must not stop us from experiencing things, simply help us to check that we are not being totally foolish or taking unfeasible risks. If we can use it to have a check about risk when we want to try sthg different or change sthg, and then overcome it, we grow and move on.

So what do you fear? Is the fear a reasonable one or simply the result of your overactive imagination? Maybe others have put the fear into your mind. What does your inner voice tell you? What fear can you over come this week? To quote Susan Jeffers, is it time to Feel the Fear - and Do it Anyway?

Zest!

Wow, what a great day out! My son and I have recently joined this activity club and we had a really fun day at a Leisure lake nearby, where A tried out waterskiing, canoeing, banana boat riding and Xstream - being towed behind a speed boat at full speed, on a giant inflatable platform.

As you may know if you have been reading this blog, part of the changes I am making to our lives, is to get more social life, and this club certainly has lots going on in the Lancashire area.... A great way to meet new people, share different activities and have some fun.. Can't be bad!

So, thought for today - what can you try this week that is different and fun and brings a smile to your face? The mind boggles - as they used to say!!!

Life and change

A lot of my work is about helping people deal with change and today was no exception. I am currently working with about 30 people who are being made redundant from a local factory, most of whom have spent the majority of their working lives in this one job. Most of them have enjoyed their work and are rather fearful about what will happen next. The biggest concerns are around the unknown; questions like 'What will they want to know at the dole office?' (even after so many years of rebranding, the local Job centre is still known as the Dole Office to many, with all the accompanying stigma.) 'What can I do; all I have ever known is how to do X.' 'How will someone of my age ever get another job?'

My role is to do some practical stuff like writing a CV which represents in a positive light all the great things they have achieved in their working life, help them with Job Search, access local jobs and employers and do some training in Interview skills...but it is so much more. A lot of it is around building confidence and encouraging people to try something different with an open mind. After many years in this business, I know that many of them will get jobs that actually bring out other facets that they may never have been aware of, and give satisfaction in ways never dreamed. But it is a very scary time and my main job now is to help make the feared more acceptable and less challenging.

Change comes to us all in different guises and even when we apparently choose change, for instance, when we marry someone we dearly love, or move to a beautiful new home or have a much longed for baby, we are never really prepared for the impact of that change. We can search out many different ways to minimise the impact of change, but we can never truly escape its effects.

So my thoughts today are around acceptance of this phase of life and trying to help others to develop a positive outlook, whilst facing the realities of their situation. Something I too strive for and sometimes achieve!

In Memoriam

The day after writing the last post, I went to Southport to do some training for a dental practice. Afterwards, I visited a dear relative, Helen, 92yrs old, who was in a home nearby. She had been very ill and when I arrived they said she had deteriorated and might only have a few days to live. My father's cousin, she had no siblings or children, and my brothers and I were her closest relatives. She was very weak, barely able to talk but knew I was there. Having called Graeme, my brother living in Menorca, I then spent the night nearby. Graeme flew back the next day to be with her.

For the next few days we travelled between home and Southport, spending as much time with Helen as possible. BM was taking LS camping so was able to look after him during this time. Helen died on Monday 21st August, very peacefully; we were with her to share her passing and she had a gentle going.

Helen was a very special lady, loved by many and we will miss her. She had a fantastic time in the WRNS during WWII and at her funeral there were 10 WRNS, all in their 80s and 90s, to say farewell, as well as many other friends, family and carers. She had married at 39 yrs old - Uncle Dick was a fighter pilot in Bomber Command and what you might call a 'rough diamond'. They loved each greatly and Helen's genteel manner was a perfect foil for Dick's more robust approach to life! He died many years ago and we have visited her regularly since then.

On an even sadder note, the following Friday after Helen died, one of BM's brothers died really suddenly. He had had Muscular Distrophy but although in a wheelchair, was relatively well until an operation went tragically wrong. BM dropped LS off on his way up to Scotland to be with his family. He is in a state of shock, as is all the family, esp his mother, who is frail and in her 80s. K was only 45yrs old and leaves a wife and two teenage sons.

To end a very traumatic week, on the same day K died, Uncle J heard that his 83yr old Mum was taken ill on holiday in Spain, and he has flown out to be with her.

So, a very difficult time for everyone and we are all supporting each other in our own ways. My brother G returns to Spain on Wednesday, having been invaluable in many ways, both practically and emotionally. LS (who has said he doesn't want to be know as LS, but A, which is the initial of his first name, rather than the initials of a nick name!) goes back to school tomorrow. And I am working on a redundancy project, helping people get jobs during the closure of a local factory.

Life goes on... but we miss those who touched our lives in so many different ways whilst they were here.