#93 A sluggish start to 2024
Hello Friend,
I hope you are surviving the new year alright. I'm doing alright despite the regular wintertime illnesses, chills and complaints.
Being a Mum, had my kid at home, and the Christmas holidays were filled with the usual confusion and excesses.
It always takes me a while to get back into my normal rhythm. I still don't feel like I'm quite there yet. And I always seem to put myself under immense pressure to bounce back after the holidays, make the most of the clean slate of the new year, be productive and get to making those new year's resolutions a reality.
Honestly, this year, I haven't made any unrealistic resolutions; I've just been trying to hold onto that feeling of positivity in the hope and promise of a fresh new year ahead.
This year, I feel like I've been given a new opportunity to start over. I'm not usually enthusiastic about the new year, but I feel both renewed and intimidated. I know it's just an illusion triggered by our arbitrary calendar year. So, before the regular negativity and lousy self-talk creep in, I'm trying to keep up the gratitude and implement positive changes.
The best thing we can do these days is to take care of ourselves, be gentle, look after our basic needs, and try to do something productive every day that gives us some joy—a positive snowball effect in our lives.
Regarding this newsletter, I hope to gather a little momentum and return to writing my weekly post about my life in Italy. I wrote a few touristy posts last month but felt like I wasn't being myself.
I will return to being myself and less of a travel blogger unless you want to have a little bit of that kind of content thrown in the mix. I'm experimenting here, so we'll see what happens.
As I get into the swing of things, I thought I'd share a couple of quotes I came across this week which struck a chord with me; hopefully, they will do the same for you.
‘We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures. Take a risk a day- one small or bold stroke that will make you feel great once you have done it.’
-SUSAN JEFFERS
‘Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.’
- AGNES DE MILLE
I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and don't know where to begin, so I will leave it here now and look for more inspiration during the week.
Here's to taking new risks, making a big mess, creating confusion and leaning into not knowing what is next.
Best wishes from
Rochelle
This is a free post. If you want to keep reading after the paywall on my paid posts, update to become a paid subscriber.
Then, you will get bonus posts and the latest instalment of my travel memoir, Sicilian Descent, dedicated to my experiences living in Sicily.
This year, I will also offer subscribers a weekly podcast from me in Sicily
Your support makes this work possible.
If you want a subscription but can't afford one, please email me at rochelledb@substack.com, and I can add you to the comp list.
About me
My name is Rochelle Del Borrello (@rochelledelborrello), and I'm a writer based in Sicily, Italy. Over the past decade, I've been writing about Sicily online, as a travel writer and on my blog.
I started 'A Load off my Mind' to share more of my writing, thoughts, and discoveries directly and regularly with you. My newsletter is a way of sharing what is happening in my creative life in Sicily—part slice of life, part travel memoir and with my philosophical yet honest point of view.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, I hope you'll consider becoming a supporter for EUR 5.00 per month (the price of a weekly catch-up over a coffee).
Alternatively, if you'd like to send a one-off something, you can buy me a coffee using this link.
No worries if you can't chip in or don't feel like doing so, but please consider forwarding this to a friend or two. It's a big help.