Before I embarked on our country move, I had read a journalistic piece reporting tree change stories that didn’t work out. The anecdotes were drawn from 2008 research undertaken by sociologist Dr Angela Ragusa from Charles Sturt University. Dr Ragusa interviewed 50 tree changers in NSW and Victoria. Not surprisingly many of the respondents talked of “difficulty in making new friends” and “the value of networks they left in the city”. Continue reading “Making Friends in Your New Community”
I’m the type of person who has a busy mind. I’m a thinker. Thousands of thoughts running through my head. Constantly. This is not so uncommon as we apparently have up to 70,000 thoughts per day. I found this out by participating in a Webinar on Mindfulness for Career Practitioners, run by the professional organisation CDAA and facilitated by Katrina Howard. I was enlightened by what was shared. Continue reading “The Path to a Clear Mind”
Buying our property in Harcourt didn’t happen overnight. Dreams of acreage, building a sustainable house and living off the land were discussed over many a Shiraz or French Martini. Saturdays were spent on long drives to South Gippsland and Central Victoria. My partner is a big-picture thinker which complements my keen eye for detail and planning, so my partner would talk “vision” whilst I mapped out the details. Here’s how we set about planning our tree change: Continue reading “Planning our Tree Change”
