Honestly, this week I’m struggling to write an intro, so we’ll just jump right into it! (I promise there’s a nice little outro lol).

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Monday was a pretty typical day – slow day at uni, worked on my first blog post for ‘Healing’ section of Golden Hour, click here to check it out if you haven’t already! I talk about how personal projects have impacted my life, and why I keep coming back to them. The ups, the downs, but ultimately, the healing they’ve brought.

Took a nice long nap after work, went to the gym, and watched ‘Black Mirror’ with Tye and Pablo.

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Tuesday was much of the same for the morning at Uni, before having to go to the doctors with everyone to get a medical assessment for our H endorsement licences to prove we’re fit to drive around large busses and coaches.  The assessment came at a pretty good time – you might’ve noticed throughout the past few weekly posts many mentions of feeling off, or tired, or finding my body having a hard time adjusting since moving to Alice Springs.  It’s been getting a bit better, but nowhere near where I should be, so the doctor had me go get a blood test to find out what might be going on. 

I’m choosing to share this, not to raise concerns or for it to be TMI, but to be open and honest with all the realities of moving abroad, traveling, issues that come up, life-habits and how they affect you as they change, and to be fully transparent.  We see so many people glamorizing and sugar-coating their lives (both online and in person), and I really want to be a part of the group that goes against this.  It’s easy to get caught up in all the positive, fun parts of life, especially online – but life isn’t always positive and fun.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m doing pretty great and am absolutely loving the life I’m creating for myself (pretty fucking proud ngl), but that doesn’t mean it’s roses and rainbows and butterflies all the time.  We all know life is messy and complicated, and I want to share that.

ANYWAYS.  Rest of the afternoon was spent doing a big grocery shop, going to the gym, making a delicious curry inspired by Cata (including some veggies from her + her cousins garden!), practicing guitar, and watching some more Black Mirror w/Pablo.

I also signed up for the ‘Push Up Challenge,’ starting June 1st, I will be participating in the @pushforbetter Push-Up Challenge with team @maxandoccy, where I will be attempting to complete 3144 push-ups in 23 days to raise money and awareness for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. Causes like this are incredibly important to me; I’ve made it a goal to raise $1000 by June 23rd and if you can help in any way, by either sharing the link, telling your friends + family, signing up yourself, or donating as little as even a $1, I would be forever grateful.

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Wednesday was a slower day but still productive: got my NT drivers licence for work, had Islay help me with cancelling Telus stuff back home, got the blood work done, practiced some guitar, and spent the afternoon just hanging out in the van watching more Criminal Minds.

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Thursday was a big NOTHING day.  Uni/work was uneventful, and just lounged back at the hostel for the rest of the day.  Ended up watching Jimmy Chin’s new film ‘Wild Life’ on Disney+ in the evening w/Troy… everyone needs to watch this.  It’s SO beautiful and so inspiring.  I’m probably going to write a full separate post on it for ‘Impact’ at a later date, so I’ll leave it at that for now.

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Friday we lucked out with getting a day to work from home, so I spent the day checking off general house chores like laundry, tidying the van, working on assignments, reading in the hammocks.  I also had my first counselling appointment in almost a year, which felt really good to sit through.  Overall I’d say I do a pretty good job at keeping my mental health in check, and there hasn’t really been any “specific things” to work through; but as an advocate for taking care of yourself and learning to lean on others for support, just in the same way you seek a professional for physical support like illnesses or injuries, it’s important to do the same for your mental health.  It’s good even just to have check-ins, to make sure there aren’t any underlying issues that are being suppressed.  Now, I know counselling is expensive, and is unfortunately still treated like a “luxury” in our health-care system, as there are very few affordable/accessible options for everyone – And even for the ones that are, it’s not a guarantee that the counsellors are a right fit for you – I recognize that I’m very fortunate to be living an inexpensive life with a decent paying job, and have found the perfect counsellor for me.  It is for this exact reason that I’ve created Golden Hour, and hope to find better, more affordable resources (like BetterHelp ) to share over time.

The evening was spent hanging with Pablo and Jono at the hostel and watching an Italian movie called ‘Mediterraneo.’ 

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Saturday was SUCH a good day!  Had a good sleep in and then spent the whole afternoon doing some touristy + local things with Jono.  We finally went to the Reptile Centre in town, and then ended up at a cultural festival in town with food, live music and traditional dance performances from various parts of Polynesia, Asia, and Africa.  With the reptile centre, as someone who doesn’t go to zoos and aquariums unless they’re rehabilitation centres/programs, I’ll admit I had mixed feelings about the place, with how small a lot of the terrariums are.  I think I expected it to be more of an information centre with few animals (like more of a rehabilitation centre), but the live demo was definitively very informative and helpful, especially for living in a country that has 18 of the worlds 20 deadly snakes…

The evening/night was SO much fun!  The rest of the crew met up at Takk’s for food n drinks to hangout, since we haven’t been the full group outside of work in a while.  Then Takk, Jono and I ended up going to the local bar ‘Epilogue’ where they had such good live music playing Afro Beats.  Was the first time I’ve gone out dancing since maybe…Hawaii?!  Been way too long and felt so good to just get out!  We didn’t end up leaving until around 1am, and spent some time laying in the hammocks talking and decompressing/sobering up before bed haha.

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Sunday was pretty much a complete lazy day… was SO tired from yesterday, that I mostly just laid in the van and slept, watched Criminal Minds, and worked on this week’s blog + editing photos.  We did have a little mid-day intermission though to go see a film with the whole crew about a local Indigenous woman, named Audrey Napanangka.  Was really beautifully done, and really interesting + important to learn more about the local indigenous history and present day life from their perspective.

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All in all, this week was a gentle reminder for me to take care of myself in various ways, to lean on others (especially professionals) when things are out of balance and your personal practices don’t seem to be cutting it, and to spend more time trying new things and surrounding yourself with people who make you feel seen and comfortable being yourself.

Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter💛