Leading up to the beginning of the month, I was REALLY looking forward to starting Feb Fast. Along with Fletch, we both decided we’d had a pretty indulgent festive season and it was time for a healthy kick-start to the year. Time to give up the grog for a month. I was enthusiastic and ready for the challenge.
Now I KNOW Feb Fast is a great concept – especially because the money raised goes to helping young people and families who are tackling serious alcohol and drug issues – BUT I’ve discovered…
… IT IS REALLY, REALLY ANNOYING!!!!!
For many reasons. Which I’ll tell you about in a minute.
It started out really well. I felt energetic at the gym, was writing more, meeting my deadlines and waking up fresh as a daisy. If you’d like to get a clearer picture of all the benefits, just check out this graphic put out by the Feb Fast group. Of course, some of the statistics also relate to the other things you can give up in February if you’d rather keep drinking grog – like coffee, sugar and social media.
But that self-satisfied smug feeling about saying ‘NO’ to alcohol and being strong wears thin by about Day Four. After a crap day when it’s getting close to dinner time, all you can think about is wanting to crack open that lovely chilled bottle of chardonnay tempting you from the fridge.
So you say ‘NO’ to yourself and go back to sorting through emails or getting on with domestic chores. Then you sit down to watch some TV and again you can hear the chardy singing your name.
Still you say ‘NO’ but remark to your husband that you might be missing your wine. Just a little. Is he missing his beer? ‘No, I don’t think about it, really,’ he says, smiling. Shrugs nonchalantly. Of course, it’s easy for him. I’m just being silly.
GOD, THAT’S ANNOYING.
And I think ‘not drinking’ makes me a little irritable. Just a teeny, weeny bit. After 6pm anyway. It makes me cranky to think about that famous quote from Frank Sinatra – ‘I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.’
He’s right. It’s even worse at social events. Especially because just when you think you’re doing fine and enjoying yourself, someone notices you are NOT drinking alcohol, and wants to talk about it. Really annoying.
Then you get some people who look at you strangely when you tell them you’ve given up the grog. They listen for a bit and then nod sympathetically, and throw in a little comment or too that suggests the real reason they think you are doing Feb Fast is because you have a drinking problem.
Seriously? Some people can be VERY annoying. Like it isn’t possible to just want one month of healthy living?
But there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Well, halfway through the tunnel in fact. Fletch has decided to buy himself a ‘leave pass’ this Friday night when we go out and celebrate Valentine’s Day. YES!!!! Well, I can’t let him drink on his own, can I? That will still make it TWO WEEKS without drinking which is more than I think I’ve done in about ten years. And we’ll go back to Feb Fasting on the Saturday right through till the end of the month.
Right now I’m feeling quite smug again as it’s the middle of the day and I can feel proud of myself that I’ve lasted ELEVEN DAYS without cracking. But I’m still dreading that witching hour at about 6pm when my mind drifts toward the fridge. Or back to when we were on holidays by the pool and I had this AMAZING passionfruit mojito…. Ah, memories.
It’s a common old adage ‘Never mix business with pleasure,’ but these two high-end hair practitioners are good friends who have worked together for more than five years and still find plenty of time to share a drink and a laugh. Linda and Justin even spent a holiday in Thailand together, along with their respective partners.
They’ve known each other for years. More than twenty years, in fact. They met back in 1991 when they worked together at South Yarra salon PDF and Justin sported long black hair. (Which he’d rather not discuss…) After a couple of years they went their separate ways.
Then five years ago, Linda was working at a boutique in Prahran where she wasn’t happy. When a client told her that Justin had opened up his own salon just around the corner in Greville Street, Linda was ecstatic and bolted there as soon as she could to see if they could work together. He happily agreed and asked when she could start.
‘Tomorrow!’ replied Linda. The timing couldn’t have been better.
For both, it meant working with an old friend they adored. As well, they have enormous admiration for each other’s respective careers – Justin as a leading hairdresser and Linda being renowned in Melbourne as a brilliant hair colourist. That’s her specialty and means she’s always well booked up in advance. As is the very talented Justin.
Most of all they’re happy to have found a new home in St Kilda, where they opened Salon Golightly last month – conveniently situated just opposite the George Hotel.
‘We’re back amongst our people,’ says Linda. ‘There’s more of a cultural mix here. You get a bit of everything in St Kilda. It feels more comfortable.’
‘It feels like home, ‘says Justin.
Both agree that the hair industry can be a tough business to survive in. It’s highly competitive and egos abound. ‘It’s full of lunatics,’ declares Linda.
So how do they make it work? Being friends and working together? ‘Well I think that’s just it,’ said Linda. ‘That we ARE friends makes it viable. It’s easy. There’s none of that hoo-hah that generally goes on.’
‘So you must have a lot in common?’ I suggest.
‘Our birthdays are on the same day,’ said Linda. ‘The sixth of the sixth.’ Ah, so that explains it!
‘She’s to the point and there’s no bullshit so you always now where you stand,’ said Justin. ‘As much as I love her, she annoys the hell out of me sometimes, but we work in similar ways. We’re hard workers and like to get on with the job.’
And they do work hard. But I also hear them laugh together often. I’ve been seeing Linda to have my hair coloured for nearly twenty years and can vouch for the fact that she’s never been happier.
For Linda, there’s another bonus that comes with working with Justin. ‘He loves cleaning!’
So you don’t have to do any at all?’ I ask.
‘It’s not that I don’t try. He always does it before I get a chance.’
Justin disagrees. ‘It’s just that she knows what I don’t like doing so she is aware of that and gets in first with those jobs. For instance, I’m happy to clean up wine glasses because if I don’t she’ll break them and leave the lipstick marks on them, but I don’t like cleaning up the tint bowls so she’ll get on and do that.’
Yes, he said ‘wine glasses’. That’s the other lovely service provided at Salon Golightly. There’s a bar at the end of the long room, where Justin will happily double as a bar tender for his loyal clients who fancy a glass of wine toward the end of the day.
Linda also loves the fact that Justin has a wonderful eye for interior design. ‘He always likes to have things looking nice,’ she said. ‘I know when I come to work in the morning, it will all be sorted and look polished.’
‘I try not to involve myself in all that because I know I won’t do as good a job. If I ever suggest something, he just looks at me as if to say, “Don’t bother”.’ Not that Linda’s offended. She loves it.
Would Justin like to turn his hand to interior design? ‘No, I love experimenting but I’d hate doing a job for someone else and not having complete control. Say I did a room then someone wanted to put little knick knacks everywhere…’ He made a face.
‘That would do his head in,’ said Linda. ‘At the same time, I have to say he’s much better at doing something for a hair client that might not suit them than I am. If I have to do something I hate, it’s written all over my face.’
Not that either of them often have difficult clients. If someone’s TOO obnoxious, they won’t take the booking. I know this because when I asked them if they’d ever had to refuse a client, they looked at each other and started laughing.
Justin says he’s always polite. ‘I’ve had clients who come to an appointment, sit in the chair and say, “Last time you cut my hair I hated it and everyone else hated it.” So I ask them why they’re back? Then I suggest that clearly they’re not happy with my work and that they should go somewhere else. Then they generally burst into tears and go to the toilet, come back and apologise and we get on with it. But a few have left and that’s fine. It’s very rare.’
‘I’ve never had that. I just don’t take the calls from those ones,’ said Linda. ‘I don’t want to be tortured. I’m just not interested.’
As for future plans, Justin says they’re looking for one more person to work alongside them in their new salon.
Sounds appealing. A new salon set in the heart of eclectic, beachside St Kilda, opposite the George with two friends who work together like a dream. Now, where is my resume?
If you’re interested in a job or having a wonderful new ‘look’, here’s the details for Salon Golightly:
Don’t you just love the first of the month? A fresh start, a new beginning, new resolutions and in my case, a new diet. It’s also the month that has thousands of Australians taking up the FEB FAST Challenge. Which usually means giving up alcohol. (although you can choose to give up coffee, sugar, caffeine or even digital screens as alternatives.)
Fletch and a few of his Neighbours mates are taking up the alcohol option. He’s already had some generous donations pledged from some lovely friends. If you’d also like to show your support, here’s the link.
I’m not quite so brave. I am doing a pathetic half-arsed version of the challenge by ‘saying’ I’m doing Feb Fast without signing up… There’s a good reason for this but I don’t want to go into details. Suffice to say I might have to head overseas soon and if that happens, well, yes OF COURSE I’d be drinking! And I want a practice run before fully committing next year.
I’m curious to see how I’ll go. And Fletch. I’ve heard lots of good things, so I’m actually looking forward to it.
Apparently you lose weight (YES!) and generally achieve a bucket load more in life, so I’ll keep you posted and let you know.
God knows I need to kick start the diet thing again after falling off the wagon MASSIVELY over the Christmas break. Getting on the scales right now is downright scary.
Some of you might remember me banging on last year about a diet I put together myself because I wanted something that was realistic to manage, simple to implement and easy to stick to. I called it the FIT FIX Diet, and yep, it really worked. If you’d like an overview, you can refer back to this blog to see the food plan for the first three weeks.
This time I’m still going to stick to the FIT FIX Diet Plan rules with the extra kicker – NO ALCOHOL. Plus some strategies from a book I mentioned in the last Blog, called Willpower.
It’s worth a read. Although I do think there are some contradictions in the chapter about dieting. Basically, the authors say there’s no point attempting to take up special diets because they never work. But at the same time, they say certain ‘rules’ can be effective. Like no sugar. If sugar isn’t an option at all, then you don’t waste time and energy deciding whether to eat the stuff, you just say ‘no’ and be done with it.
But if you implement a new ‘rule’, then you are in effect, creating a new diet anyway, aren’t you? Hmmm…
The best tip though, is the ‘not now, but later’ theory. The idea is that you never say to yourself, ‘I can’t eat that yummy chocolate ice-cream tempting me from the freezer.’ What you are meant to say to yourself is, ‘I won’t eat that yummy chocolate ice-cream now, but I will have it in two hours.’ Or tomorrow.
And you probably never will eat it, but psychologically, you feel less deprived. Those who do this lose more weight and keep it off.
There are lots of fascinating stories about case studies and psychological tests on groups of people to support this theory, so I’m going to give it a go.
So there you have it. The new diet means no alcohol, sticking to the FIT FIX Diet Plan and using tips from the Willpower book. All sounds good, doesn’t it? But damn, I’m going to miss my chardonnay…
Are you giving up anything for February? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments section too.
Okay, okay, I know it’s a bit late for Happy New Year greetings etc… but I’ve only just landed back in Australia and it feels like I’m starting my New Year for real, today.
So HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you’ve started off the year with a huge bang and have a brilliant twelve months ahead.
Last year I made a big fuss about New Year’s resolutions but this year, I’m going to be a bit more low key. And a bit more ‘general’. By this, I mean I’m going to focus on HOW to achieve my resolutions, rather than talking about what they actually are. I reckon if I get that bit RIGHT, the rest will follow.
You see, I’m easily distracted. Always chasing the next best thing to keep my mind occupied and the spirit motivated. As I passed through Bangkok airport looking for some plane reading material, one title jumped out at me – WILLPOWER. Now that’s something I definitely need more of.
I’d like to discuss this in more detail, but one crucial piece of advice in the book is about creating a less stressful life, which means better planning strategies and time management. So I need to get ready for a function right now and rather than run late and stress about not being ready on time because I spent too much time blogging, I’m going to head to the shower RIGHT NOW. Because I have new-found will-power!
You should read this book. It really makes you look at your life and long-term goals and has some very valid theories backed up by far-reaching research about WHY certain methods will help you get where you want to be.
As a writer, I am no longer going to procrastinate and wait for inspiration. I am going to plan regular daily writing sessions – and treat this like a REAL job – so I can finally achieve my goals. Well, that’s just one of my resolutions.
But more on that later. Right now I have a shower deadline.
Happy New Year!
By this, I mean I’ve made a few resolutions but keeping them seems to be the tricky bit, so it’s the ‘how to keep them’ bit that I’m going to focus on.
I can’t believe it’s a year since I last wrote about taking a Christmas break from Blogging – surely that was only a month ago? Wasn’t it?
But then I look back at the calendar and see how many Blogs I’ve written, the places I’ve travelled to and the path life has taken me and realise that yes, indeed, a whole year has just whizzed on by yet again…
Right now, there’s other demands on my time that mean I might be posting less Blogs than usual at the start of 2014. There’s several creative writing projects that need my attention and I have learnt in the past few months that I just can’t do both.
To write creatively is a different matter altogether to writing a Blog and requires me to enter what I call ‘The Zone’. That means no other mental distractions – no matter how trivial – so I can be fully immersed in the world I’m conjuring.
As we come to the end of 2013, I’ll re-post a few of the most popular stories from throughout the year, and no doubt, there’ll be some adventures and embarrassing tales that I’ll need to share, but for now, I’m taking a break!
So I wish you all a VERY Happy Christmas and holiday season, and a multitude of blessings for the New Year.
Thanks for your support throughout 2013 and I’ll be back when I’ve conquered those creative dragons battling for my attention. Until then, take care, Christmas kisses and good luck.
