Do I wish you a Happy New year? It feels kind of off right now, but I do. I do wish this year is happy for you, better for all. I even made some ‘semi’ resolutions, I don’t call them that because they never work. I am making some gradual life shifts instead. Honestly, thank fuck 2023 is over. It was one of the most stressful years of my life and I am one of the ‘lucky’ ones. But everyone is feeling it right now, aren’t they? It seems to cost an unattainable and offensive amount of money to feed your family, to pay the bills, to put petrol in the car, to do the things that were once more manageable. Interest rates? I can’t keep up. Daily coffees, an occasional movie, some nice Thai takeaway food? Forget about it. regular groceries would be nice. (Obnoxious first world problems hey) It is time for some major shifts, a move away from all the bullshit and greed. There is a strong yearning in me for a simpler, healthier and more peaceful life. To find a more affordable way of living, a deeper way of connecting with nature and others and sending a big middle finger to the corporations, banks and rich folk actively destroying our lives. Greedy buggers, I am sick of them. This year, I’m focussing on my health, my home, my kids and my creative work. I’m keen to revamp and expand my vegetable garden to help reduce grocery costs, have access to fresher, healthier produce and to be a little more self-sufficient. The supermarkets are out of control, and I don’t want any part of them. I’ll focus more on bulk buying, cooking from scratch, getting rid of processed food as much as possible (there are some things my kids won’t part with!) and reducing my use of plastics. I’ll actually compost this year and not just produce a tower of stinky sludge and I’ll barter what I can for what I want. This way of living really appeals to me. I would really like my kids and theirs, if they decide to have them, to have a healthy planet to live on when I am long gone. But I fear it may be too late. I hope I am wrong. My creative work over the past year is coming to fruition and will hopefully begin its journey out into the world, that’s fucking scary but the goal nonetheless. I need to be braver, because I often say things that pisses people off, and I care way too much what people think. I am a person who easily offends, who speaks too quickly, too abruptly at times. It is a flaw I am aware of. Is it a flaw? My words are not subtle and I refuse to shy away from the hard things. I admit this way of living stresses me out at times, but I will continue to create, to write, to speak. I’ll read more because as a writer, you must read. I’ll teach more, because people loving to sing makes me happy and I’ll write more music because without it I can’t exist. I’m not on socials right now for several reasons but will return soon, to a lesser extent. I existed for decades without it and can do so again. I’ll put my phone in a drawer, it’s a convenient but irritating thing. Once upon a time, ‘back in my day,’ we would just take the phone off the hook. Done. I’ll walk more, I have two dogs that need exercising now. (Aren’t they cute?) My little home is complete. I’ll look for little pockets of joy and sink into them. It could be sipping a hot cup of tea under a blanket, reading a new book that enthrals me, a new song I can’t stop playing on repeat, a chat with a friend that makes me laugh so hard I pee. I’m at that age now. I bloody love it. I’m grateful to be able to grow old, to pluck the chin hairs, to see my kids grow up. Many aren’t that lucky. Most importantly, I acknowledge how fortunate I am to be able to write these things down as my focus for the year, that I am not spending my days dodging bullets and bombs and destruction. I’m not losing my family and friends, or losing my home. I am so fucking lucky. I acknowledge that I am blessed to have a home, that my children are safe and no matter how much we struggle it is nothing compared to some. Watching the world in chaos on a screen is surreal and traumatising, and it is so easy to disconnect, to keep scrolling, but please don’t. Those who are suffering need our voices, our help. I have actively lost people from my life this year for speaking up and out, but I won’t stop. I won’t ‘shut my mouth’ as I have been told. How can I truly live in peace when others can’t? I wish it for you, I wish it for all. Liz x
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I was going to add a trigger warning to this post but what would it be? TW – God is an asshole? TW – Sick pedos not sick kids? TW – Dying animals and stupid men with beards? I gave up, but you have been warned. Anyone who has pets at home and adores them like my family does knows how heartbreaking it is when one of them gets ill or passes away. It doesn’t matter if they are a guinea pig, a cat, a dog or even a bin chicken, well it doesn’t matter to us. They are all beautiful and we love them madly. That is why is sucks ass that our beautiful cocker spaniel Juno is currently in hospital critically ill. We have had her for about eight years and she is loyal, sooky, loving and quite mental. A bit like us really. It all happened so quickly, one minute she was fine happily eating her favourite roast chook and the next minute she was vomiting blood and bleeding from her eyes. Now I love horror movies but this was not okay. Apparently, after some initial testing, she has an auto immune disease which unfortunately may be secondary to cancer, we are investigating further today or rather the vets are and I am sitting here anxiously waiting for their follow up call. It is a bloody rough lot isn’t it when those who seems so vulnerable get sick, like children and animals, and if anyone utters the inane sentence, ‘oh but things happen for a reason,’ I will politely throw a cow pat in their face. If I was to believe in a God that sits on a throne with a long white beard deciding who deserves to live or die (I don’t) I would be mighty pissed at him right now. I mean I have seen my fair share of death in my life, and I don’t mean just animals. I saw my mother ravaged by cancer and my father destroyed by dementia. Now come on, what sort of fucking god would wilfully inflict that on those he ‘created’. Now my Dad enjoyed way too many ‘cheeky’ beers in his time and my Mum was as warm as a frozen fish finger from the over frozen garage freezer, but they didn’t deserve that. No one does, except pedos, murderers and rapists right? And sick kids, forget it, that is the ultimate cruelty. The ultimate injustice. I believe in karma but I refuse to believe that some bad karma in a past life made a child sick in this life, or that there is some plan we just can’t see, what a load of toss, ‘But things happen for a reason…’ Shut the fuck up. Now I know I am mixing religions and belief systems here but that is my brain, it’s a fucking mess in here, but it’s all mine. I want to set some new Universal laws because there has to be some sort of levelling out of karma and dishing out of disease. Let’s keep our beautiful animals well, our children free from harm, our dysfunctional parents alive and send it to the worst of the worst. We don’t need death penalties, just a deal with the supposed ‘big man’ upstairs to pinky swear that when he is deciding who gets sick and dies, he remembers those who are the scum at the bottom of an outback toilet and gives it to them. Not to someone’s daughter, someone’s son, someone’s parent or someone’s puppy. I know this may sound harsh, but if anyone deserves to suffer, it’s that cluster fuck of vermin, isn’t it? Those who wilfully and happily inflict pain and suffering on others? I mean I would prefer it if they just weren’t horrendous arseholes, but they are. This God some folks believe in can learn a thing or two from Santa, the other mystical man with a long beard and a beer gut. Even he knows to keep a list of who is naughty and nice. It’s not that hard, I swear if God was a woman this shit wouldn’t happening, but that is another rant for another day. So, for fucks sake God, get it right. Peace. When I had just finished acting school, I moved out of home for the first time and lived with a classmate who also happened to be vegetarian. It appealed to me, especially after a life time of eating chops and boiled vegetables, so I became one. As the years went by and I became more informed about how we get our meat and dairy I started to consider veganism. If slaughterhouses weren’t bad enough, the absolute misery of dairy farms and the cruelty involved is heart wrenching. I’m not going to go into it here as it has been well documented but I will say that the torture a cow feels when their male baby is taken away from them right after birth to become veal is shockingly heartbreaking, it fills my heart with anguish. The primary reason I am plant based is because of my love for animals, they are beautiful sentient beings who deserve to live their lives without fear, abuse, torture and death. There is no such thing as a humane death. A bolt to the head is a bolt to the head. Now though, my health is also a primary concern when it comes to being plant based. I have read extensively about plant based health and nutrition, done several courses and am thoroughly fascinated by the plant based world. Check out Dr Fuhrman, Dr Esselstyn, Dr Barnard, T Colin Campbell, Dr McDougalland Dr Gregor(for starters) I guess I am a plant based nerd who eats crappy vegan food more than she should. Why am I writing about this? Maybe because I believe in order to heal ourselves and our planet and to truly be compassionate people we need to stop eating animals. Simple as that. Would Covid -19 be around if people weren’t eating animals? I don’t know, I’m not a scientist or even remotely qualified person but I hesitate to guess that it probably wouldn’t. Would our hospitals be filled with people with heart disease, cancer and diabetes etc… probably not so much. I get that people like to eat animals and a lot of people think it is our right and biological necessity but it isn’t. Honestly even if it was, I wouldn’t. Let’s try and lessen the suffering in the world, including for animals. Try a vegan burger, they are quite delicious. Peace I am an animal lover, a big, mushy, sensitive one. I cry a lot over animals. The poor animals in these fires who have lost their lives is heartbreaking. I am guaranteed to cry if an animal is harmed in a film, TV show, book... it doesn’t matter where, I’ll cry. At the moment we have two cats, one dog and only one poor chicken as the rest have died. But I need to build a better coop before I get anymore rescues. One of my cats was a foster fail. I took in the gorgeous Billy as he was born without eyelids and needed very expensive surgery and care to prevent blindness and ongoing pain. We fostered him for about a year as he went through the surgeries, 3 in total. He quickly became a solid member of our family, so when people started expressing interest in adopting the little ginger, the kids and I couldn’t say goodbye and we formally adopted him. Recently I have been tempted to foster more animals and had my eye on a 3 legged cat called Roland but he was adopted (yay!) and now I have my sights on another kitten named Pirate who has lost an eye, (no patch as yet!) he also needs surgery and fundraising is currently being done through the Urban Cat Alliance. I seem to be drawn to animals who have physical injuries or disabilities and I wonder why that is. Is it because I’ve often felt broken and can relate in some ways or am I overthinking again, very likely. Is it just because these kittens deserve the best in life, as all animals do and the ones who are suffering more completely steal my heart? Maybe it is a mix of both. I believe it is vitally important for children to be raised around animals. My kids adore animals and have such great love for theirs. They share such affection, they love the cuddles, the play, telling their friends about them and they are filled with compassion. They can also learn about death and grieving. They learn that no matter how sad they get: they will be ok. They will miss them but they will recover and always have loads of love to give to other animals. The mental health benefits of spending time with animals alone is worth it. Whether its patting a purring cat as it sleeps on your lap or walking your dog in the fresh air, it all helps. Well it helps me anyway and I can’t count the times I have seen stories about animals being taken into nursing homes to uplift the residents spirits. Beyond Blue says that the bond you share with your pet does a lot to support your mental health. I couldn't agree more. Maybe consider getting yourself a companion if you don't have one already? Animals are healing. They, like you, deserve happy lives and I mean all of them, domestic, wild and farm. They are sentient and worthy. You are worthy. Peace. Well it’s a New Year and what a start. Our country is literally on fire. Lives are being lost, homes and livelihoods are being destroyed. The amount of wildlife killed is incomprehensible. Climate change is kicking our arse and yes we were warned. So what do we do? We donate, volunteer, cheer firies as they pass, prepare our homes the best we can and support each other. My home is literally surrounded by fire but thanks to the bloody amazing work of the RFS, so far we are safe. We are still under threat and our bags are packed but for the moment, we are the fortunate ones. Yesterday I cut up some food for wildlife, bought some medical supplies and donated it all to WIRES as well as making a financial donation. It’s not a lot but every little bit counts. Celeste Barber is killing it with her RFS fundraiser, which was about to hit 45 million the last time I checked and no doubt it will be way past that by the time you read this. Brilliant! Donate here. People aren’t too happy with our PM ScoMo, and his awkward handshakes/assaults aren’t making matters better. But for now, we don’t have time to focus on him. We are trying to save our country, pity he didn’t get the memo. We are getting drizzles of rain, which although glorious to feel, simply impede the back burns the RFS are trying to do to protect us against upcoming severe weather days. We are longing for the day when this will be over. The thing is once these fires are over (for this season anyway) the emotional, psychological toll on people will be huge and ongoing. People are going to need psychological support, from those who lost loved ones, those who lost their homes and livelihoods, to the wildlife volunteers who have seen so much devastation, the brilliant RFS who are experiencing so much stress and trauma and risking their lives for us every single day and everyone else who has lived in a constant state of alert and stress, all of us are going to need ongoing support. Fortunately, Magda Szubanski and Will Connolly (Eggboy) are doing their bit to raise funds for those directly affected by the fires. They have a Go Fund Me set up to provide ongoing mental health support to those most in need. Check it out here. And the animals, god help me, it’s too much. To donate to WIRES Emergency Fund go here. There are loads more places to donate, just watch out for scams. I wish my first post was cheerier but I will say the way Australia is rallying together is fucking brilliant. I am so proud of this country and of my community. Brings me to tears it does.. Peace |
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