A Catch-up And A New Start
Hi Lovely Folks,
How have you been? It’s been a rough couple of years, huh?
I know you haven’t heard from me in a while. This is just a hello and some catch-up.
As some of you may know, Mrs C and I did a big six-month backpacking adventure in the Caribbean and Central America in 2019/2020. We explored Barbados, Costa-Rica, Belize and Curaçao. Later in our travels, I got homesick. I was missing my friends, my own bed and my kitchen with my stuff in it. I’d had enough of the relentless mosquito bites and heat too.
Despite the endless itching – a lesson in Zen-level existential patience, the trip was amazing: ziplines, swimming with sharks, cave tubing, surfing, speed-boating, volcano trekking, beach-biking, snorkelling, monkeys, crocodiles, coconuts, Mayan temples, natural hot-spring rivers and the world’s most beautiful beaches. If only you could bottle it!
In January 2020, midway through our trip, news started to circulate about a worrying virus but we thought little of it because we’re always hearing that, right? So, when, two months later, a guy on the beach told me that Europe was locking down and that the last plane out of Curaçao was leaving tomorrow, I realised that this situation might be quite serious.
Full airport drama followed; one of the planes was diverted for additional pickups. The flights were a rescue mission and we made it off the island by the skin of our teeth. That flight took us as far as Amsterdam. Four days later, after three airline-cancelled flights and a rather enjoyable stay in an empty hotel, we finally arrived home, only a week or so short of what would have been our planned return date.
I had been busting to give my friends big hugs. Alas, nobody was seeing anybody. For a long time. That stung, as most of us will remember.
I had intended to pick up my writing and business there but within a few weeks of being home, I developed a terrible fatigue. I tested negative for covid. I never discovered what it was. Blood tests were all normal. It didn’t fit any of the tropical disease profiles. I figured it was viral and would wait it out but I was knocked out for the whole summer before I saw an opportunity to get my fitness level up again. I didn’t do much writing during that period because I had no mental focus or stamina either. It was frustrating but it was one of those fatigues where you had to ration energy or it would just bite you harder later. I didn’t want to write to my readers then. It would have been a grumble and that’s no good coming from the anxiety-help guy!
I am fully recovered now. I have been for a while and I’m raring to make 2023 a new start with new projects and more engagement with the reading and writing world. Also on the agenda is to record some new hypnotherapy recordings, released possibly as an audiobook but that will be much later in the year. I intend to ask you closer to the time what kind of subjects you’d like tackled? Don’t write now. That’s for another day.
I do “still” have a new book on the way. You were kind enough to tell me not to sweat on it when I’d been overly optimistic on its completion date. Thank you for that. The end product will be the book it wanted to be for not being rushed. Most of the words are down. Fine-tuning and polishing is happening. I'm feeling good about it.
Today was just to say Hi, to wish you a great 2023, and to let you know that I’m out of the bunker! I plan to be more visible in 2023. Thank you all for your support! <3
All my best
John
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