Sometimes we give up on our dreams, life just gets in the way. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Sometimes if we don’t do things when we say we are going to do them, or want to do them, we give up. It just doesn’t have to be that way.

Originally built in 1106 AD, this building has been a local courthouse, village tearoom and shop before becoming a public house in 1968. It closed in 2010 and was eventually restored, reopening in 2021. The first photo above is one I took in 2015 when I managed to get out and about in between cancer treatments. The second photo is more recent, after the reopening and courtesy of The Little Gem.
Photo courtesy of The Little Gem Aylesford

Take time to explore what really brings you joy

If there is something you would really like to try, do or experience, but somehow never get around to it, consider how you could slowly bring that into your life, tiny steps at a time. Maybe there is a different path than the one you thought you had to tread to get there.

It doesn’t help that we may judge ourselves against what others are seemingly achieving within the infinity of social media posts. No one really knows the reality of another’s life, I learnt that lesson well when I worked within mediation. It was also during this time, nearly 20 years ago, that I was gifted a beautiful Pebbles mug at work because of my then Pebbles Tearoom dream, which has partly inspired my new Pebbles House project (please note this has no connection with the above public house – I just wanted a photo of an interesting door that I had taken myself and, as often happens, something in the photo led me to discover a different and inspiring story – a successful campaign to save the pub.)

There are so many opportunities in the world. It can either seem overwhelming or we may not even see what is there, as we are too taken up with other commitments. It was when I was at my lowest, when I thought I could do nothing after redundancy, that I had the opportunity to attend a free community creative writing course. I ended up going to university, along with special friends from the writing course, and we all chose to study Social Sciences. Going to university was something I had once thought I might do if I won the lottery, but I never thought it would happen. I absolutely loved everything about it (apart from exams and deadlines!) and it became one of the best experiences of my life.

A proud day and one which I never thought would come, made extra special by having fun sharing it with a friend

We can give up and forget about what is really important and in the grand scheme of things what is really important can be little things that mean much to us, we just need to recognise that. When I was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia back in 2015, just after I had started my second year at university, I had a really tough time getting through treatment. It really brought home to me that it was the special moments of connection with family and friends that meant the most, together with living mindfully, and taking each day at a time, to savour the beauty of life and nature. It was also during this time that creativity really helped me endure what I needed to, it was a very challenging time.

Joy can come from the most unexpected places, just allow yourself to dream. Maybe in your childhood or early teenage days there was something you thought you would really like to do ‘when you grew up’. Did you do it? Is the underlying wish still there? Perhaps you may think it was just for the child in you but how might you bring that into your life now – if that is what you would like to do. Or maybe this triggers a story you could capture from your past that you would like to record in some way, whether by writing a short story or representing it in some form of art.

Pebbles House is taking me back to enjoying simple things. Playful things that bring back my imagination. I have struggled to write anything much in the past few years, yet in 2020 I was attending a novel writing course and enjoying the process, especially the research. I ended up with characters, places and a structure that I was bringing to life. It had a touch of mystery that even I, as the writer, did not yet know the answers to and the process was both therapeutic and a journey of discovery and connection.

Yes, I love Jellycats! Meet my latest addition to the family, Albee. I have yet to decide where he belongs within Pebbles House – apart from weaving around the garden of course! Did you know that honeybees perform a ‘waggle dance’, a figure of eight dance on the verticle surface of the honeycomb within the hive? A random fact I have just discovered thanks to Google.

I hope you will join me on my Pebbles House adventure and that it may enable you to explore and uncover your own dream project, however big or small. In essence, for me this is a creative writing project that may result in another book, but it has the scope to be so much more and one day maybe Pebbles House may exist in reality, and not necessarily by the sea, thereby bringing the sea to those who are unable to physically experience walking along a sandy beach with the waves sloshing rhythmically on the shore, and with a salty breeze blowing through their hair.

I recall the days when my journey to work involved walking beside thunderous waves, sometimes battling the wind and rain too. Through the many photos I have taken, I am able to re-live that experience and it brings a good feeling back. I experienced the fleeting magical presence of rainbows and at the end of the day there was nothing like being able to sit and enjoy a stunning sunset. In my mind, I am at Pebbles House now looking out onto that sunset.

I hope to see you here again soon and perhaps you might like to follow my Pebbles House Facebook Page.

I recently took the opportunity, while on a holiday road trip, to visit Hornsea, a small seaside town on the beautiful Yorkshire coastline in England. The following piece of writing emerged (unedited).

“Waves have the power to entrance and refresh, to bring us close in to nature. They devour our stressful feelings and bring an inner depth of awe into our world. The fresh salty air, the constant yet rhythmic movement that rises and falls and moves in and out of our lives.

Braving the waters, there is nothing like being swept up and down within the gentleness of a calm yet revolving sea. To allow oneself to drift within its soothing hug before returning refreshed to the damp pillowed sandy and pebbly shore.

To catch first sight of the waves crashing against the shore is heaven embodied. It draws me in. As each rise swells to a crashing crescendo nothing else matters. This is life. This is all that is needed to wipe the worries away.

Waves are forever there despite them being far away. Their energy may lay dormant within us until we allow ourselves to be within their power, within their being, whether through our own visionary imagination or immersing ourselves in seascapes that effervesce with the sense of the sea, providing a source of sea therapy that is open to all who wish to offer themselves to it.

Sea therapy is for all, regardless of whether you are by the sea, if you have had personal experience of it, it stays within waiting to be given the key to open up your dreams of a life blessed by the sea.”

Not so long ago I moved away from the sea and now live next door to the Peak District National Park with its stunning mountainous scenery. I knew that I would miss the sea yet I have learnt that by remaining connected through my interests, friends, photos, projects and writing, I can still feel the benefits of that connection, that sense of belonging. A while ago I discovered reference to some research that backed this up, that if you have personally experienced being by the sea then the benefits can still remain with you. I now know personally that I can tap into this feeling whenever I choose and when I am able to visit the seaside it is the most amazing feeling and something that I will forever look forward to.

I didn’t realise until I was writing this post that the Peak District was the first National Park, created in 1951 (there is much history behind this which makes me realise how lucky we are to have the freedom to explore such a wonderful area). By the end of the decade the Lake District, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, the Pembrokeshire Coast, North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Exmoor, Northumberland and Brecon Beacons had also become national parks. https://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-about/about-the-national-park/our-history.