Weekly Inspiration (31/8/20)

I hope you’ve all had a restful weekend and are ready to step into this new week with your best foot forward! I’ve had an enjoyable weekend and while I don’t feel ready for it to be Monday quite yet, I choose to approach this day with a fresh mindset and do my best. I hope you feel encouraged likewise.

 

 

On Saturday I travelled about an hour away from my area to a rural Sydney town called Richmond. The drive there was beautifully scenic- green pastures, the open blue sky and so many farm animals. Richmond itself was bustling for a small town. They had saturday markets on, streets lined with various stores and eateries. I visited a florist to check out their dried flower selection as I’m looking to update the vases in my room with some new blooms! I also went to a quaint homewares stores and did a spot of thrifting. I’d travelled down with my mum and brother and while we’d wanted to stay in Richmond longer, I had a driving lesson later on in the morning. We decided to stop in at a cafe for a quick bite- I got a scone with cream and jam and a chai latte to go with. My brother ended up getting a brownie and hot chocolate which he found too sweet, so passed to me. I certainly had my sweet fix for the day!

Around midday was when my driving instructor picked me up for our lesson. My previous instructor and I hadn’t worked out so this was more of a trail lesson with a new company and teacher. I felt that we didn’t quite hit it off as his teaching style is significantly different from how I learn- he spent about twenty minutes out of the hour we had telling a story on how not to drive. I would’ve preferred he let me drive and make corrections where needed rather than us having to constantly stop and start. Other than that, his car was hefty. So much so that when I first drove it out of my street, he joked that we weren’t in America and I should drive on the left side of the road, not right! What could I say? In my defence, I was simply trying to manoeuvre the car onto the correct lane.

During that hour spent driving, I had somewhat of a realisation. I was taking my time and going slowly and as I’d expected, the experienced drivers behind me were frustrated by my lack of speed and know how on the road. It was discouraging at first as I didn’t want anybody mad at me, even if it wasn’t direct or personal. Nobody chooses to do something incorrectly after all! At times, even my instructor seemed frustrated with me. I now have eighteen logbook hours but have only driven for six in reality. I began to liken this experience to blogging and it became increasingly clear to me that I need to have grace and patience with myself.

The first few posts I published as a new blogger were nothing to write home about and it didn’t bother me in the least. I was new to the game and ten years old, blogging solely out passion and drive to share my voice. I hadn’t written anything before and certainly hadn’t shared it with the world. I wasn’t interested in perfection and simply wanted to run my humble gaming blog. If anybody read what I wrote, that would be a bonus. We are six years on now and I’ve seen such a transformation in my abilities and the audience I’ve reached. It came organically with time and dedication, as will my skills with driving. They are something to develop. If I can run a successful blog with a dedicated readership made up of diverse viewers, I can drive. Simple as that.

My goals this week are simply to make progress on upcoming assignments and to continue practicing my lines for a drama performance in a few weeks time. Along with a few friends, I am performing a section of scene three from the play Ruby Moon. The storyline revolves around parents Sylvie and Ray Moon, Melbournians who live in the fictional town of Flaming Tree Grove. They struggle to come to terms with the mysterious and alarming disappearance of their daughter, Ruby, who left to visit her grandma and seemingly just disappeared.

My understanding of the storyline is that the couple are held together by Ruby and the idea of family. The trio completed each other and with the loss of one came the loss of all. Ray and Sylvie became confused, warped and fragmented versions of their former selves. There is a strong psychological element to the storyline as the couple begin to interview neighbours on their whereabouts and activities on the day Ruby disappeared. It turns out however that these neighbours are nothing more than concoctions. The interactions they seemingly have with the couple speak only to Ray and Sylvie’s increasingly downward mental state as well as their paranoia. They fail even to trust each other and cannot be the support system the other person needs. They recognise deep down that to heal, they need to experience grief and allow it to transform and morph with time. As long as they distance themselves from this inevitable experience, they will continue to lose parts of who they are as individuals and as a collective.