Talk About Denial!

After last weeks blog,”Mirror, mirror on the wall — who’s in the most denial of us all?”, I am literally going to be in de-nial — or rather ‘de Nile’ — this time next week.

It’s my first trip to Egypt and I am both excited and extremely anxious. My husband keeps reporting the daily news from Cairo, which adds to my nervous disposition towards the tension and build-up to the new presidential elections in Egypt this month. However, I keep on reminding myself that I have wanted to do this since I was a little girl.

By the way, the picture above was taken by my grandfather, Harry Roe, during World War 2 (he was stationed in Egypt) — quite remarkable, isn’t it? There’s another picture further down, taken from the banks of the Nile.

Back to the article.

The Last Minute

So, this trip was booked spontaneously about a month ago and I thought I had a lot more time to sort things out than I actually do.

Now that it comes to the crunch, I have actually been putting a lot of stuff off. Of course, I have been doing all the nice things like buying new sandals and planning my trip to the salon for some heavy-duty waxing but when it comes to the more pressing details, well, those are on my ‘to do’ list in my head.

Realizations and Deadlines

Without having to drag you through the nuts and bolts of my checklist, I am going to get straight to the point of this blog and go for the jugular — the things we don’t want to face but inevitably have to.

Besides having to purchase sunscreen and alert the neighbours of my departure, what have I been putting off?

Drawing up a will — yeah, I know, a tad bit dramatic? Certainly, but also necessary. I don’t have a will in place and if, God forsake, my husband and I should not return, we will have left our family in a bit of a pickle with regards to who gets what. We don’t have children or debt (thankfully) but we do have pets, which I would like to see well looked after, etc.
Financial Planning — Yup, that old humdinger — and let’s face it, who wants to think about that? We are both self-employed and a 10 day vacation also means a 10 day unpaid vacation. So we need a game plan to see us through this month and to re-enter a new month when we get back.
Care-Givers — With pets (and for many of you who can’t travel with your children) this step of the process is sometimes the hardest. Having to leave your dear ones in the care of others and planning for their needs while you are away. I, thankfully, have a good friend who house and pet-sits for me but it is still one of those things that you only face or start to think about closer to the time and pray that all goes well.
Documents — I’m not even going to go into this one because it’s red-tape boring! You know the type, visa’s, passports, itineraries, blah blah…

Can you see why I have been experiencing a tiny little bit of denial? Most of these things aren’t easy to face or think about. Not that I advocate dwelling on anything that doesn’t make you feel good but, inevitably, some of these things do need to have a strategy or plan in place for your peace of mind.

Putting Things In Place

Like the thought of leaving your pets, I wish I could explain to them that I will be back but, alas, you can’t. The last time I went on holiday, my cat sulked at us for days!

Or the thought of who you are going to leave things to in your will. The truth is that if you don’t, your loved ones will be left to sort this out and surely you don’t want to instigate squabbling on your behalf.

Setting your finances straight really is a drag but, again, you will have peace of mind whilst you are away — isn’t it worth it in the long run? Work a little harder now to have time to put your feet up later.

And, lastly, documents — just do it. No use griping about it. Accept what is and you’ll find it is finalized before you know it.

Right, now that I have got that off my chest, I will leave you in peace to enjoy the rest of your Thursday…just remember, tie up those loose ends so you can get on with the joy of living!

Motivating Update: I set aside my weekend to start ‘wrapping’ these things up. You won’t believe how quick it was to tie up all these loose ends! It literally took me a couple of hours and I had most of it done.

I’m now starting to feel the anxiety slip away and a sense of excitement taking its place!

Question Time

What is it that you put off until the last-minute when you go away?

What, in general, are you putting off now that you know will make an improvement on your life if you did it?

What is stopping you from setting your affairs in order?

Come on, be honest.

UPDATE: I am back from Egypt, you can see my blogs here: