Starting Over in Times of Change

A year ago I was a wife and mom that had recently quit my job working as a producer in a Creative Department. We, my husband and I, thought that we were immigrating to New Zealand from South Africa.

Plans were coming together, we had our house up for sale, slimming down our possessions and both our teens changed to a homeschool system so that we could cope with change at any moment. Paper-ready to go as soon as we got a job offer.

During this period of transition I threw myself into home projects to keep busy and figure out what my new purpose was. As an innately creative person I knew there was a lot I could lean into, but the season of change meant it needed to be something that was in-hand, cost effective and served my family.

I’ve always loved baking and DIY this became my focus (outside of homeschool). Baking has some side effects though (hello - you tend to eat what you bake) so now I had even more time to hike and walk on the beach near our home.

Then came the biggest spanner in the works that we could ever have imagined, COVID-19. The world shut down as boarders closed and our hopes of moving in just a couple months crumbled. It was like suffering a loss of a dream.

On the day before lockdown in South Africa signed and offer on our house. Three weeks later we got an offer on our second property which we turned down as we now needed somewhere to live. This would become the life change that we had been craving. A smaller house in a little village that feels like a holiday.

We moved during lockdown which meant the streets were deadly quiet and winter kept our new neighbours bundled in their homes. It was a strange quiet, lonely change from a community we knew to a community we didn’t know. But as winter turned to Spring and the lockdown slowly lifted we found a relaxed, laid back, friendly group of folk that are passionate about the outdoors, the environment and our local village.

The reno of our home (an old cottage) became my project and focus and kept me busy. Over the next while I’ll post some of what we have done and some of the baking along the way. But in the meantime know that we have found a place of peace to be a family and make fresh plans for the future.

I’ll continue to do what my hand finds to do whether it be baking or renovating, but I know that there is just so much more to come.