Had such a good contrast week compared to last – spent more time with myself, taking the days slowly, focused more on personal projects, and being more selective with my spare time.  Something I’m beginning to learn is recognizing where I’m at in relation to my cycles and how this impacts my energy levels and self-perception, and it has honestly made such a huge and positive difference in accepting myself, my body, and its abilities as they shift throughout the months.

Quick reminder about my fundraiser for mental health and suicide prevention.  Please share and donate, if you can, to help me reach my goal of raising $1000 to go towards resources for mental health support. I’m on my last few days of completing 3144 pushups in 23 days (ends June 23rd, Australia time) and it would mean so much to reach this goal!

--

SO thankful that Monday was a public holiday this week.  Got to have a really good sleep in and spend the day working on laundry, blog posts, editing photos, cooking, listening to some podcasts, and watching more Criminal Minds; pretty much kept to myself the whole day which was very much needed.  My favourite podcast listened to this day was Mayim Bialik’s “Dr. Gabor Maté: Who Gets Sick and How to Prevent It”.

--

Tuesday morning, I chose not do a big workout and instead let my body rest some more and do a quick 10min stretch in the sun before I had to go to work.  Managed to have a decently productive day on assignments and got to drive a coach bus for the first time!  Went pretty well and got lots of good practice for the test next week.  After work, Takk and I did some grocery shopping together before I dropped him off at the bike shop for his bike to get fixed, and I had to head to the doctors to finally review the blood test results.  Turns out I have low iron levels, which is not uncommon for vegans, and especially for those of us who haven’t taken any iron supplements in the past…  I’m certainly not surprised with the results since my diet has definitely changed a lot over last couple months, so it’s nice to know what I can be doing to help get some of my energy back, and also know that everything else I was tested for came back perfect, so there’s nothing else alarming to keep an eye on. The rest of the evening I spent cooking some dinner and working on a new graphic design project for Luminous Studios re-brand!  It’s been a couple months since they’ve needed any work done, so it was really fun getting to play around with designing again—It always feels like digital scrapbooking and gets me really excited about getting to be creative in this type of way (if anyone has any posters, email signatures, event signs, etc. they want made… hit me up).

--

Wednesday I was pretty sleepy since I stayed up quite late working on the design, but despite it I still managed to get in a quick workout before work and spend some time reading + napping + watching criminal minds + clearing out phone storage after work.  Days like these teach me a few things:

1.     How important it is to take things easy when you need to.

2.     Rest is productive.

3.     A little bit of progress/effort is better than no progress/effort.

4.     Meal prepping is one of the biggest game changers.

--

I honestly don’t remember what happened Thursday lol – I think just another admin, chill at the hostel after work day, and not really anything worth mentioning.

--

Friday was the beginning to such a great weekend! Started the day off taking a nice long hot shower before my counselling session with Heidi.  I find it funny and also so good with these sessions how some days I go in with lots of points to discuss, whereas yesterday I had nothing specific on my mind and had started wishing I’d cancelled so I could sleep in, but then within the first few minutes of the appointment we were diving into topics that started uncovering some important things.  I honestly feel so thankful to have found a counsellor who seems to just understand me so well and is capable of reading between the lines or explain things in a way that click with me.  I know how much time and work it can take to get to a point like that with a counsellor/therapist, and disheartening it can feel every time you reach out to someone new and it doesn’t click, but the time is so worth it when you do find them. 

Work was also pretty fun today because we got to spend the whole day as a group practicing on the coach bus all around town, as opposed to being stuck at Uni and going out one at a time.  Afterwards, it was a crazy evening of running errands to get ourselves organized for Cata’s birthday camping this weekend – Cata’s cousin and roommate (Pin+Grant) both have off-roading vehicles and organized a camping trip with the Emu Run crew.  Went from dropping off Jono for his bike to get fixed, to work to pick up the swags, to groceries, to Jono’s to pick up his swag, to liquor store, to Cata’s to drop everything off.  When we finally got back to the hostel, we all spent the evening hanging out in the yard (Cata, Jono, Pia, Pablo, Ash, Troy, Gianfrancø), learning to juggle + toss the balls around a bit, listening to some guitar playing from Ash+I, and just hang out.  After the others left for the night, Pablo, Gian and I ended up watching the horror movie “Hereditary;” was a much later night than originally planned but so fun.

--

Saturday I didn’t end up getting much of a sleep in since I stayed up way too late and had to get my packing done in the morning lol.  Pablo and I went out to Takk’s to pick him up around 12:30, then headed straight to Cata’s to get the vehicles loaded up and hit the road!  Was about an hour drive to our spot just past Ellery Creek Big Hole on a 4x4 road; we had such a sweet spot completed secluded with absolutely no one else around.  We spent the evening just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company, sharing lots of laughs, great food n drinks, a big fire, peoples first roasted marshmallows and shooting star experiences (sadly couldn’t find graham crackers for s’mores this time), some guitar tunes, and a beautiful clear night.  Sleeping in swags around the fire was such a great way to experience camping in the outback – they’re the old style, so it was basically just sleeping outside in a canvas sleeping bag.

We all got to have a nice sleep-in and wake up to the warm sun the next day.  Takk and I took on cooking pancakes, hash-browns and eggs for breakfast, which was honestly so brutal with the sun and the heat of the fire/coals we were using to cook, but felt like a true camping experience getting to use the fire coals to heat the pans for cooking – and the food turned out great I might add.  After brunch and packing up all our gear, we drove just 10min down to the waterhole for a nice, cold dip (only Pablo, Cata, Grant and myself braved the water) – felt AMAZING to finally get into some water again after what’s felt like forever.  It’s too bad we aren’t able to do this stuff as much since no one else in the group has a car, and Cata’s not able to borrow her cousins vehicle.  There’s a decent amount of cool waterholes + hikes within 1.5 hour drives of Alice, but since we’re all normally hanging out as a group and my van only fits 3 of us, it forces us to stay closer into town.

After a couple hours, we made our way back into town.  After a few hours of driving, unpacking, dropping people off, etc., we finally got home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and prepping for our driving test we have this week (what date we don’t know yet…)

--

My favourite thing about my time here in Alice Springs is for sure the people.  I feel so lucky to have fallen into a group of such amazing, unique, smart, interesting, fun, and kind people who all connect so well, and are so open and comfortable with one another.  I feel like I’ve found that community I’ve been missing for so long; my people.  I’m lucky to have many people in my life who fit this description, but they’re all individuals in my life.  The one group I do have is unfortunately scattered across Western Canada, making it very difficult to spend time together.  Having that consistent group who lives close to you and is always down to spend time together in some way is something I didn’t realize how much I’d been missing, and it feels so good to have found it in the least expected of places – the middle of Australia, with people from all around the globe.

Stay passionate and curious,
Hunter💛