It’s been about a month since life started to feel like it was moving again.
January felt very different.
Dad died on New Years Eve, and the start of the year quickly became a stretch of days where the focus was simply getting through what needed to be done.
There were calls to make, practical things to organise, and that strange suspended feeling that often comes with grief. The funeral at the beginning of February became the point everything was quietly building towards.
In those weeks I wasn’t really living life as normal. I was mostly just managing the days.
Since then, something has slowly shifted.
Not suddenly, but gradually. The kind of change where you realise one day that your energy has returned a little more than it had the week before.
It’s been about a month now since things began opening up again, and real life has gently stepped back in.
Work is one of the places I’ve noticed it most.
I’ve taken on a new client in my main business, which has quickly filled my days again. It’s good work and work that I enjoy, but it has reminded me how easily life can become very busy.
At the same time, I’ve been looking more closely at how I want my work to evolve.
One thing I’m quietly exploring is how to reduce my reliance on one particular client while still keeping the parts of the work that I genuinely enjoy. It’s not about walking away from good work, but about shaping things in a way that feels more sustainable.
That kind of change rarely happens overnight, but it’s something I’m slowly working towards.
Alongside that, I have quite a few different projects running at the moment. Because of that, Quietly Jo hasn’t had quite as much attention from me recently as I would like.
But that’s okay.
This space was never meant to be rushed. In many ways it reflects the life I’m trying to build: slower, quieter, and more intentional.
My hope is that over time it becomes something I can spend more of my working life doing.
When I left the UK in 2011, one of the things I was consciously stepping away from was the constant noise of the rat race. The feeling that everything had to be urgent, visible, and always growing.
What I’m trying to build now looks different.
Work that supports my life rather than consuming it.
Income that doesn’t require me to constantly give more and more of myself away.
Living here in France makes that feel possible.
Spring is slowly arriving again. The mornings are brighter, the countryside is starting to wake up, and there’s that subtle sense of the seasons turning.
Even the practical things of everyday life are shifting.
Fuel prices have gone up again recently because of the war, which definitely brings a little nervous system tension into the background of things. It’s strange how global events quietly sit in your mind like that.
But my new car runs on superethanol, which is still incredibly cheap here, so for now that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
And honestly, those small pockets of “one less thing to think about” feel quite valuable these days.
So this past month has felt like a gentle return.
Energy slowly coming back.
Work finding its rhythm again.
Life opening up a little more.
And Quietly Jo continuing quietly alongside it all.
If you’re in a season where life has narrowed down to simply getting through the days, I hope things begin to open up again for you too.
Take care of yourself.