Awareness first

We left the house in good time, it was raining. The road to Chantal’s parents home was relatively clear and we arrived just before 09:00. Rixie, Chantal’s mother, was huddled under the car port to avoid the wet. Their bags were in a neat row. Matthew pulled into the empty parking space next to her and popped the boot.

Neville, Chantal’s father, helped unpack and repack the boot. We were driving together to the Drakensberg where we would be spending the next few days together with Chantal’s middle brother, Bradley, and his family, who were visiting from Australia.

The road leading out of Johannesburg was fraught with spattering rain, wet roads, concealed potholes and waves of water that surged up from passing trucks. Once we were on the N3 the rain subsided and the road improved. We all sat back relieved and more relaxed.

“I hope the others were able to navigate their way through Johannesburg without any issue,” commented Chantal.

In time for lunch

We arrived at the Cavern in time for lunch, important for Rixie and Neville, and an opportunity to breathe out and connect with the full group after the journey.

We orientated ourselves to the space and the programme for the forthcoming few days. There were walks every morning, games in the evening and plenty to eat. Three meals a day with tea at 11:00 and 16:00 supplies plenty of energy to walk off. There is also a magnificent pool if the weather is good, horse riding, tennis and lawn bowls.

There are no excuses to be bored but plenty to be lazy. The mountains that ring the hotel are majestic. Their ancient solidity cannot but ground those that stand at their feet. The expansive gardens, busy birdlife, and fresh air encourage a slower gait, a meandering stroll and the benches strategically planted under trees, at ponds and on pretty walkways nudge one to take a quiet seat to stare into space.

We had every intention of going for walks but the weather and the planner had other ideas. On day one it rained just as the walk was about to get underway. Some are nonplussed and will walk regardless. The rest of us think of damp clothes and boots weighed down by mud. The lounge looked more inviting.

Just walk

Chantal’s niece was having none of it. She didn’t want to walk in the mud and wet but she felt the need to walk. She set off down the tarred road, to who knows where. The rest of that family followed.

When the sun came out Matthew was encouraged to join Chantal for a short walk, also on the tar, to the Natural Pool. It was downhill on the way out. The uphill looked uninviting on the return but Matthew approached it with determination.

As we trudged back, stopping to take a breath, a bakkie blasted past us filled with Bradley and co. The young people sitting in the open back waved gaily as they passed us huffing and puffing up the hill. They had got all the way to the Adventure Camp, had tea and scones and were offered a lift back. Lucky them.

At lunch one of the young people told us how her Mum did 15,000 steps every day. It was a commitment she had made for herself after recovering from a lung condition.

“Wow, 15,000 steps every day. That’s a lot,” said Chantal, “How does she do it?”

“She just walks as much as she needs to even if it means walking around the house.”

Inspired by this story Chantal went on her own step challenge. Not 15,000, rather 10,000 would do. The short walk had helped but there were still a few thousand steps to complete for that day and it had started to rain again.

Chantal traced a path through the gamesroom, the pub, up to the lounge, across the dining room and back to the games room. She walked this route over and over and over again. Matthew cheered her on from a comfortable chair while he read. He tried a few rounds himself.

“I am really unfit,” he puffed as he passed Chantal on the stairs. “But this is better than nothing.”

Barking baboons

The next day was an intermediate guided walk, which just seemed a tad too challenging for Chantal who used her collapsing hiking boots as a useless excuse. Matthew was nowhere to be seen. Troops of baboons that galloped in the hills barked a warning to her to not walk on her own. She was, however, determined to do at least 10,000 steps.

While a braver, and younger, Bradley and co, took the long and very uphill mountain route to Sugar Loaf, Chantal donned her walking shoes and set off, phone in pocket to measure her steps. The elders were reading in the lounge and Matthew was doing what Matthew does – not walking.

It took a good two hours, and the opportunity to visit every nook and cranny of the hotel property. Chantal climbed stone stairs to the bowling greens and tennis courts, she visited the stables and the bottom dam. About to walk next to the paddock where the horses were grazing she was thwarted by a large baboon sunning herself on the other side.

“I was sure the baboons wouldn’t go near the horses,” Chantal said to herself as she hurried up the hill to the safety of the pool area.

She did venture to the top dams berating herself for even thinking of baboons.

“I’ll energise the damn creatures my way if I keep on worrying about them.” she thought, looking around warily.

She did not encounter any more but the Sugar Loaf climbers had heard them close by howling and fighting with each other. Their descent was speeded up to escape any unwanted confrontation.

Awareness first

With her steps achieved, Chantal could take a well earned rest in the afternoon, but not before the app urged her to take on a seven, or 30 day streak. Knowing that the very next day had them all sitting for four hours in the car, there was an easy answer to the challenge: “Thanks, but no thanks.”

The renewed interest in noticing how many steps were taken each day offered an opportunity to become aware of how active or inactive she was on any given day. The commitment to reaching 10,000 every day was not one Chantal could take on.

“I know I need to be more active, but I’m not going to start something that I know I won’t be able to sustain.”

Awareness is the starting point. It may not always lead to a change in behaviour but without it, that change cannot even be conceived of. A small story set off a spark to try something. The act of doing so revealed the complications, time considerations and commitments that would be required.

The realisation that more activity is needed is still there, that we accept. How we go about doing more may convert into more steps, just not as many as 10,000.

Until next time.

Yours in feeling,
Chantal & Matthew

The window Arsenal struggles to close

The Certainty Deficit is the space between what you can do and what your body will let you do when it counts. It is context-specific. You might have zero deficit in one situation and a significant one in another. Arsenal lost three matches in three weeks. A cup final lost to Manchester City. An FA Cup quarter-final lost to a second-tier side. A home league match lost to Bournemouth. Each one decided in the same twenty-minute window between the 60th minute and the 85th.

This is what happens at the trophy-end of a season when the body of a team has learned what the context means.

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Credits for this issue — Images: 5th Place