Community Starts At Your Front Door.

Growing up in a small rural community, Everyone knew each other, Everyone looked out for each other, Everyone helped each other. Haha and yes, most knew everyone’s business. When things got tough, your community was there - they stepped up, always. Even though a small township, and the smallest of main streets, it can often take some time to walk it, due to stopping a number of times to chat with all those you know. Although I haven’t lived in my home town for 19 years now, there are many times I can refer back to, that remind me of community. My parents were always active in their community so I learnt simply by watching them. Community starts at your front door. To know your neighbours, To look out for your neighbours. Everywhere I’ve lived, introducing myself to my neighbours is always the first step. We have been in our new home for two months now and in that time, food has been swapped, cups of tea have been had, many long chats on the driveway, messages exchanged, and kids flooding the street with laughter, screaming, bike skids and more. And now more than ever, we must look out for one another. If you can knock on their door to see how they are doing - especially the elderly, do it. Introduce yourself, all you need is your smile

And don’t worry if you’ve lived there for years and never introduced your self - better late than never ya. And for all those times social media has been cursed as a problem in this world, remember there are pros and cons for most things. And right now, social media is our biggest means of keeping in touch with loved ones, with your community, with your clients, more than ever. And, this is just the beginning. We are being shown something here. We are being given a little shake up, And I’ll be honest with you, all though it’s worrying, things are uncertain, changing every hour it seems like, Something inside me get’s excited about this change, Finding new ways to do things, Really opening up to who you are, what you do and how you do things. Seeing just how important having a community is for your mental health, Looking at new ways of working, a chance to really look at your industry and what more you have to offer Because oh boy, everyone has so much to offer. Sometimes we can all get a little too comfortable in our world, Thinking and believing, nothing could quite go this way for the whole world. But it has, and it is. So grab yourself a cuppa (or a wine, if you need something a little stronger), And allow yourself to get creative with your thinking. Start to prepare yourself for new ways of living (even if for a short time of 14 days), New ways of communicating and staying in touch with your whānau and clients. And have fun with it. Today I cheekily suggested to my family, that if we have to self-isolate, maybe they could all come and live with me, since it’s been a few years that we all lived together. I got the ‘Hell No’ from my awesome sister haha. So I guess, we will continue our communication via phone and messenger and keep our social distancing at a minimum. Anyway, happy Saturday everyone Hope you’re all doing ok and have been able to refrain from buying a shit load of toilet paper

Char xx