The photos are of a couple of things that I have repurposed in my garden. Sure, they will rust or decay at some point, but in the meantime, they are a quirky and unique thing in my garden. Rather like the quirky and unique me, that repurposed them to be something that makes me smile in my garden.
This post was inspired by a walk that I went on today with my husband. We live in a small town called Kaiapoi in the South Island of New Zealand. Some 15 years ago, Christchurch/Canterbury had a series of significant earthquakes that devastated huge areas in Canterbury and there was also loss of life. In some way, whether it be by association or personally, you could not escape the impact that those events had for us all.
Following the earthquakes there were designated ‘Green Zones’ and ‘Red Zones’ and there may have been other zones, but I don’t recall. The Green Zones were areas that could be remediated and the Red Zones areas that should never be built on again. All affected areas had at least some Red Zones. Kaiapoi – for a small community – certainly had more than it’s fair share. We did not live here at the time, but moved in nearly five years ago. I have to say, that Kaiapoi has done a fantastic job of utilising Red Zone areas. We have a beautiful fenced dog park with one area for small dogs and one for large dogs, so that they can be exercised separately and safely. There are areas where there is green space with picnic tables and benches and play areas for families to enjoy. There are lots of parks and bike tracks and walking tracks. There is a ‘food forest’ where people take food they do not need, such as produce from their gardens. Also, the food forest has fruit trees, some of which I think were transplanted from Red Zone sections, where people can pick ripe fruit and where classes on various aspects of gardening are held. Kaiapoi has done an incredible and beautiful job.
This is an example where a catastrophic and negative event has had positive outcomes for our community. In the same way, the catastrophic event of a Parkinson’s diagnosis has given me a lot of things that are positive. Almost overnight following my diagnosis, my outlook on life changed which is not surprising. What is surprising, is that I spent very little time especially in those early days, feeling negatively impacted. That may sound strange, but the first thing I chose to do after being diagnosed was to start this blog. Down the track, I started my podcasts ‘My journey with Parkinson’s’ and ‘Parkies Patter – a chat about all things Parkinson’s’. I remember talking to my husband before I started the blog and in telling him what I wanted to do and why, I found myself becoming emotional. It wasn’t that I was emotional about having the diagnosis, I was emotional about my need to do some good with the cards I had been dealt.
Perhaps it was the 20+ years of being a social worker, that made me feel the need to share my experiences. And yes, it was and very much is a ‘need’. For me, it has always been therapeutic sharing my thoughts and experiences on my blog and latterly on my podcasts. I want to be able to share my Parkinson’s life with others to show them that you can have a happy and fulfilling life still. That you can have a sense of purpose and that life can still be good. But, equally, life can be pretty rubbish with Parkinson’s too! Make no mistake, I am not all ‘sunshine and roses’ all the time. If I have a bad day, I am not going to post mindless fluff if I want to rant about or just talk about some stuff that I am less than pleased with. If I am having a bad day, my followers hear all about it!
I have a family member who has expressed concern that I focus too much on my diagnosis and that it is not good for me. Far from it. I have experienced nothing but benefits from doing my blog and podcasts. When I am doing either of them, I focus on the topic at hand such as the one today about ‘Repurposing and Purpose’ and spend maybe 15-20 minutes or 30 tops writing or recording the topic. Once I have done that, Parkinson’s and anything to do with the day’s topic just leaves my consciousness. So much so, that I often ask my husband what he thought of the latest and he will usually say it was good. Then I might ask him what the topic was and he will say ‘I can’t remember!’ and I will often say ‘neither can I!’ and that’s the honest truth. Once I have sent it off to my blog, or recorded it as a podcast, the topic and the words I have written or spoken about on the topic, have gone out of my head. So, that is a focus in a whole day of 30 minutes and that’s not bad!
If you would like to listen to my podcast on the topic here it is.
My journey with Parkinsons 