Is being busy the key to happiness?

Have you ever volunteered for anything before? If you have then you will know that once you put your hand up it tends to stay up for a very long time. The last few weeks have been hectic it say the least!

Added to the usual business of running a Bed and Breakfast Les and I have been heavily involved in the local Twinning. We are ‘twinned’ with a small town near Rennes in Brittany called St Grégoire. This year is our 10th anniversary and last weekend we had nearly 70 French people visiting Holywell to celebrate the fact. We had a fantastic weekend, but the organising has been incredible and all those involved worked so hard to make it such a success. Finding new hosts is always a challenge but this year we managed to find lots of new lovely people willing to give up their weekend to entertain our French friends. All of them have said they enjoyed the experience and let’s hope they develop lasting friendship like Les and I have over the years.

Unfortunately during all the excitement I have developed a bad knee and have had to curtail my antics at Erddig house volunteering with the education department for a while, which is a shame as I enjoy working with the children so much. I also help with Flintshire Tourism and try and keep their website up to date. It was Lucille Ball who said ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it’. My days are full of cooking, cleaning, making beds, organising, planning, negotiating, chatting, shopping, typing, emailing, telephoning, checking and booking, meeting, greeting and ironing. Oh and trying to find time to knit and paint and garden and have time for friends and family. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. When you hear me moan that I am a little stressed or under pressure – don’t sympathise too much as really I’m having a blast.

Some years ago before working for myself I used to sit my office in Chester bored with the job I had been doing for many years. It had become repetitive but at the same time increasingly demanding and I felt resentful of the time I spent there - I constantly wished for something different. So when our life changed and we started running our B and B we also started getting ‘involved’ with more and more things locally.

I thought I was busy then – huh! Busy I maybe but enjoying the madness of it all! So be careful what you wish for it may just come true.