So, one month in to the state of not working. No regrets so far... Far too busy for any of that.

But it's been an odd kind of time. Slightly surreal.

I've decided from now on to give each month a theme.

Which is not meant to crush spontaneity, just to focus attention.

I haven't managed to get much rhythm into my life yet. OK, it's still early days. And we have -- as noted -- been very busy.

But I need some kind of anchor. I find my energies running off in all kinds of directions. There are languages to practise, and books to finish; there is research to be done (on Sarawak, and on our upcoming travels, and -- totally unexcitingly -- on medical issues). The multiplicity of demands is de-focusing me, just like it used to do at work.

So I think I need something to ground me, and themes might partially supply that need.

Retrospectively, the theme for January has been "organizing". Moving out of our flat in KL; dealing with stuff left over from work (still not 100% finished there); getting our MM2H package together; sorting out medical stuff; working out budget-friendly itineraries; and so on.

So, apart from the week in Pontianak, January has hardly counted as OE...

And yet despite the heavy schedule in the last two weeks, we've grown so very fond of Kuching. It's going to be pretty disappointing if we're not allowed to stay...

The theme for February is "getting fitter". Yes, I get that you can't just do that for a month, and then move on to something else... What I'm aiming for is acquiring some strategies that we will be able to adopt as routine.

This is even more important for me now. I've finally given in and started taking my anti-cancer medicine (the one that doubles or triples your risk of blood clots...), so movement and fitness are crucial. And I found out this week that I have osteoporosis... (Magic... So much good news over the last few months...) Part of the way to slow or reverse osteoporosis is, again, movement and fitness.

Don't be discouraged. Think purple... Think PURPLE!!





We'd already upped our walking target by 10% (so we're now aiming for a minimum of 11,000 steps per day). We will gym/swim where we can. I'll investigate workout-in-a-room routines. And we're reducing sedentarism when we're at home by setting an hourly alarm, which is the command to get up and dance (all the old Abba favourites have come out over the last week...) or otherwise exercise.

Watch this space...

A subtheme has already insinuated itself into February, however. Now that the final amendment to our MM2H application has been lodged (this happened on Monday), we are free to go. So after Chinese New Year, we're heading for Thailand. That being the case, move over Chinese, Russian, and Turkish -- I need to start derusting some Thai.


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Apropos of January's "organizing" theme, you'd have to be living under a rock on Mars not to have heard of Marie Kondo recently.

We have been gradually "decluttering" for years, and spectacularly so over the course of the last 14 months or so. Our possessions now consist of what we carry in our rucksacks, plus a rucksack-sized box back in KL. Beat that, Marie!

I often think we're ahead of the curve. In our moves into different career paths, for instance, we were doing transferable skills way before they became HR-speak.

But what Marie is right about is that the essence of this whole crap-busting process is not so much discovering what you can get rid of as realizing what you want to hold on to.

I think that applies to travelling too, but I'm still working out how.

Watch this (much more interesting) space, too.