I’m not sure how it happened, but in the last 10 years or so, I’ve become ‘a very busy woman’. A phrase I now use regularly as a joke with my husband when he keeps asking me to do things for him.
Even the cast I’m working with at the moment use the phrase. After a weekend or a few days off when the young ‘uns have been partying and the older lot have been gardening or visiting friends, I’m the one who’s spent the weekend writing or working. ‘Glynis you’re such a busy woman!’ they laugh.
It wasn’t always the case, I can assure you. For decades as an actress, it was a rota of a few intense months of work, followed by nothing at all. Sometimes, this in-between stage would stretch into many long months. I always found being “out of work,” incredibly mentally challenging. I was full of creative energy, longing for some wonderful job to come along and transport me into the world of being excitingly and gainfully employed.
For most of these years there was no social media and even computers weren’t a fixture for most people. It was a time when the world wasn’t interconnected as it is now. When one could truly be alone and quite often bored.
What is a life if you haven’t learnt to navigate boredom?
The last 20 years have been truly transforming for all of us. Now it’s almost impossible to be alone, or should I say “left alone”? Many of us spend hour after hour just staring at our phones.
And so it came to pass, computer in hand, social media ready to go, that I decided to fill my down time with my other passion of health and wellbeing. I started my Ageless website and life has never been the same since. I always have articles to write, as well as, with the addition of my YouTube channel, videos to shoot. And then there’s social media posts to create every day. It’s a lot. Great when I’m between acting jobs and completely insane when I’m not.
I love my work. I love my acting jobs and I equally love running Ageless. It fills me with purpose and is a great outlet for my creative energy.
However, there are times when it’s completely overwhelming. All I seem to do is work. I very rarely take a day off or have the luxury of nothing to do.
Having nothing to do, on occasion, is good for us
We need this time to recharge, be still and reflect, to keep in touch with our inner life. This allows our nervous system to calm down instead of being on constant alert, which is most definitely where my nervous system is at most of the time.
When I think of my childhood in South Africa, I often spent time on my own with many moments to fill. I vividly remember lying on the carpet of my bedroom, in the patch of sunlight coming through the big window, looking at the sky and watching the clouds as they sailed by. I gazed at the ever-changing shapes and could see all kinds of animals and creatures. Angels with wings, an elephant head or was that a unicorn? I never thought of this as anything special, but I now realise this sort of freedom of time, a space to just be, is something to be treasured. And I no longer have it.
I’m determined to find it again. I’m searching for the pause button because I know I need it. After all these years of working to the max, it’s really, really hard to stop.
Holiday plans
I’ve started with planning a holiday and actually paying in advance. This is always a tricky one for an actor as you are guaranteed to get offered a job the moment you pay for a holiday. It’s a risk I’m now prepared to take. And any job that comes along would have to be mega for me to abandon my holiday plans. I will not be cancelling the trip for an episode of Casualty, I can promise you that.
In fact, as I travel round the country with my play, it’s given me great pleasure to put work aside and go online from wherever I am that week and check out holiday properties. What a thrill to find the perfect place, read all about it, research the local area and then to email and book it. This is something I usually procrastinate over and end up scrambling to book something at the last minute. I decided to go further and book the actual flights which are…gulp…. non-refundable.
I now have the thrill of having this exciting trip to look forward to. I say exciting but this will be a relaxing holiday. A chance to chill, to read, to just stay put or maybe go for a walk or a cycle. The sun will be shining, and I shall be perfectly happy to just sit there and watch those clouds go by.
Making travel more relaxing too
The other thing I find enjoyable is a train journey. I used to drive to most venues when touring in a play but this time I’ve decided to get the train. It’s so much more relaxing. The WIFI doesn’t work properly, phone reception is terrible, so it’s just me and my book or a movie downloaded on my iPad. Bliss.
Ok, there’s also online shopping, which is not great for the wallet but sure feels good when you’re sitting in a room far from home with the rain pounding on the window. Let’s just say, I’ve already started shopping for my fabulous summer. There’s nothing like spring to put one in a shopping frame of mind. I always do most of my shopping at this time of year because I’m so excited by the thought of the summer ahead. It holds the promise of garden soirées, sunsets while sipping rosé, lunches outdoors and lazy days in the sun. This summer, I intend to be as lazy as possible. I’ve worked hard all winter and I’m determined to have a couple of months of leisure.
It’ll be a huge transition when I finish my play. The relief of finishing such a long job, the happiness of being home again, missing the cast who have all become friends, wondering when the next job will come along. As always, it’ll be a mix of emotions. However, I want to be sure to make the most of every precious minute before I plunge into the next adventure.
Reconnecting
I look forward to having more time to spend with my family and reconnect with friends. Out of the last four and a half years, I’ve been on the road with work for three and a half of those. Being home will be great. I want to cook and entertain and sort out my basement. My basement is the bane of my life. We meant to clear it out during lockdown but somehow never got round to it. Every square inch is filled with stuff. The kind of stuff that’s hard to part with. Old newspaper clippings, old videos of all the TV work we’ve done and loads of memorabilia, paintings, posters and about 15 suitcases. What do you do with it?? It would give me enormous pleasure to get this sorted and cleared.
It’s these little things that give the most satisfaction. The moments spent with family or laughing with friends or walking in nature. These lift our spirits more than any fancy event.
I wrote recently about energy and how it’s the most precious commodity, but so is time. Time slips away so quickly; I want to stop and savour special moments, not feel the constant pressure of the next deadline.
I want to once again sit and gaze at the sky, pondering the shapes of the clouds as they glide by. I want to remember to pause every so often.
