Entry #5 - Navigating the messy middle (and a couple of new residents!)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything now.

For a while I felt like I was stuck in what I’ve now come to think of as the “messy middle”. All the fires had been put out and what I was left with was the bare foundations for a new beginning.

The transition, the messy middle, the space in between. You’ve moved on but you haven’t yet arrived. You’ve left behind what you needed to, but the puzzle pieces haven’t all yet come together. There is messiness. There is waiting. There is uncertainty. You are wanting to rush but everything is moving slow. You are wondering if you will get to where you want to go. But where you are is perfect. The messy middle is for doors to close and new doors to open. The transition period where things come undone so they can be put back together. This is a season of just being, of trusting. This is a season to pause and take a breath.

-        Lisa Buscomb

In a way, this period of time can be daunting because at least when you’re dealing with life’s critical issues the focus is clear, afterwards however the focus becomes a little fuzzier as the perspective shifts to the longer term.

It took a while, but I started to enjoy the possibility and freedom of being in this space, and it’s been really rewarding to find the various puzzle pieces and experiment with how they may or may not fit with the new life I’m putting together.

I’ve worked out a routine to balance work, country and city life, keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones.

I’ve also been slowly working on getting the sanctuary ready.

The scope of the sanctuary has been expanded a little as well to include a gorgeous brumby named Tiana, who is now a companion for my ex-racehorse Shirley. 

Tiana was born in the wild and very lightly ridden before spending the last few years in a paddock after having a foal. She’s a little nervous around people so I’m currently working with Snowy Brumby Horsemanship (who I also volunteer with) on her handling (she’s already making good progress) and eventual ride training.

The possum aviary is taking a lot longer to build than expected!

Because of the way the kit was done it's very hard to put it together alone and I feel a bit guilty putting visitors to work. Luckily however a few friends have helped out and it is starting to progress because its first resident arrived yesterday! 

Milo is a ringtail possum joey weighing just 86g! He was found on the ground in Nimmitabel with no family in sight (potentially blown out a tree due to the strong winds we’ve been having).

Fortunately, it’ll be a few more weeks before Milo needs to move into the larger aviary, in the meantime he will be my new travel buddy as he currently needs three feeds of formula a day.

Ringtails are social animals, and we don’t have any others currently in care in our network, if one comes into care in the next few weeks they will hopefully be buddied up, otherwise we’ll reach out to other wildlife networks nearby and find her a buddy that way.

That's it from me for now, there's a lot of moving pieces but it also feels like things are starting to fall into place!