A couple of days ago it dawned on me that we were nearing our 100 day lockdown count. In any ones books, this is a seriously long stretch of time.
According to a scientific Google search, it takes 21 days to break a habit which means I should be less 5 bad habits, or better yet, have acquired 5 new skills perhaps? Now I do not know about all of you but each morning would feel a bit like Russian roulette, with me being unsure as to which of my many new personalities would get out of bed each day (perhaps it was almost 5 new personalities acquired versus 5 bad habits broken?).
I also felt like I was constantly busy with to-do lists and admin but every time I reviewed things, it felt like that work lists never seemed to translate in to productivity. I have, however, been told that the sense of business with lack of productivity attached to it was a virtue blessed upon me by being a Millennial (a title I still contest as I would much rather trade in my cellphone for an African sunset in solitude, 365 days of the year!).
So instead I decided, as day 100 rolled in, to take stock of my time in lock-down and to try jot down a couple of things I had done and achieved during this time. Here were a couple of my bigger findings…
Reflecting on lockdown.
- 10 Week Life Transformation Programme:
I enrolled and managed to complete an incredible online programme during lock-down. This was not always easy, I can promise you that much!
- Mastering the art of video editing:
Although very much still on the amateur side, I decided that due to my love of photography, I would love to know how to edit short films. Although I do not currently have much video content as a result of lock-down, I decided to play around with some downloaded ‘B Roll’ footage and make some short promotional material. This video was my very first attempt. For any budding video editors out there, I can highly recommend Da Vinci Resolve.
- iZandla
We have slowly worked on launching a handcrafted range of stunning local products. Stay tuned for more details of what we have in store. The dream is to finally launch a full online safari outfitters store where all guests and friends of Satori can purchase whatever they may need for their next African safari. Better too, we will have an array of fantastic African artifacts meaning that you can opt to purchase your travel curios from us and not worry about the logistics of transport and shipping. The word iZandla is Zulu – the home language of my youth – and means ‘hands’.
- Teaching yoga online
During the course of lock-down, I managed to teach some online classes to clients, friends and students around the world. Coming to terms with technology and teaching for a technophobe was challenging to say the least but the reward to connect with people throughout the world was one of my biggest saving graces and made it all so worthwhile.
- Sorting of photos and photo journaling
I finally managed to sit down and work through most of my photos from my most recent trips to Kenya, Botswana and Uganda. Not only that, but I also decided to start creating a small photo journal of some of them. These photos were not always necessarily the best photos, but rather photos that held a very significant memory for me. Follow our newsletter and blog to see when we post these journals, and why not submit your own for us to share with the world!
- Twitching the lockdown itch away
On day 1 of lockdown we decided to keep track of all the birds positively identified from our small decked garden in Durban. The current tally sits at 37 birds with personal highlights being 3 birds of prey species as well as the Tinker Barbet and the Cardinal Woodpecker.
- Relearning the patience of flyfishing
As a child I was very lucky to occasionally visit my uncle and aunts farm up in the Drakensberg. During those visits I was lucky enough to go on a few exciting flyfishing adventures. So, once day time leisure activities were allowed, the family and I decided to get a simple fly rod set up and head out for an afternoon of fishing and picnicking. Two fish were successfully caught and released and now I am hooked too (excuse the pun)!
- Embracing in special family time
January 2020 marked 11 years since I left my home and family and ventured to Cape Town. With the onset of lock-down I decided it would be best to head back to Durban and rather be with family. The allure of warmer weather and a bigger home was appealing too! During this time I have managed to spend more time with my parents than the last 11 years combined and also to spend some incredibly special times with my sister and her family (of course a special shout out to my two nephews – her dog and son. The latter turning 2 years in September)
- Dusting off the old digital marketing text books
With bookings obviously taking a slow turn, this time allowed me to unearth my digital marketing textbooks from a few years back and to start relooking at our digital marketing and communication initiatives. As a small tour operator, our focus is and has always been on the personalized service given towards our customers. What this has meant is that over the last 3 plus years, the digital arm of business has been relegated to the bottom of the pile (perhaps something to do with that technophobia!). I am pleased to announce this is one bad habit I have slowly managed to break during this time and we are excited for our new digital roll-out. Just do not expect a Whatsapp reply in a hurry if you are a friend, as I am probably planning or dreaming up bush adventures for our clients!).
- Donning my chefs jacket again
Well not quite! Although I do sometimes wish I had stayed on the food-front of things for a while longer, my love affair with cooking and in particular baking too took a backseat over the last few years. I am happy to say that this has changed during my time at home and every weekend it is my turn to bake, cook, braai and make a general mess in the kitchen (sorry mom!).
