Observations

I refuse to let the ongoing earthquakes define me as a person & would love to think that they wont define us as a city.

However the media thinks otherwise, as all they report are the negatives with headlines which misquote & often intended to mislead.

Once again we've had "aftershocks" that have done further damage in some cases, caused new damage in others & have re-damaged what had been repaired after the first two major events. Many people are "over it", over the city, over the shaking & over what the continued shakes are doing to their psyches.

In my heart I am all of the above - but I refuse to let those thoughts & feelings consume me & define me as a person. I can choose to look forward with hope or stagnate by immersing myself in the everyday present. I choose the former & on the days that I venture out across 'my' side of town the visuals that greet me as I drive over broken roads certainly don't make it the easiest path to follow.

I guess what is bothering me the most about these earthquakes & their consequences is that it is defining us as a city. Christchurch is far more than earthquakes & aftershocks - & yet that is what we are being put on the map for.

To be fair, for many, it is all consuming. But it isn't all there is to us. There is still beauty to be found - you just have to look a little harder.

What was the "new normal" a few months ago has now just become normal & it's not all bad....just slightly difficult sometimes to see the 'good'. It's easy to see the negative - it's in your face everywhere you go so you simply can't help but notice as you drive over broken roads surrounded by broken houses. But it is important to look past that & look to the future to what is going to be a wonderful new city full of new opportunity one day.

In the meantime look to the small stuff for beauty. Stop & smell notice the roses, the sunrises,  sunsets & change of seasons. Mother Nature doesn't only wreak havoc - she puts on some spectacular displays in her progression through every day.

The media isn't going to report them though - it is up to us to notice them & once again let the garden city & her beauty,  our sense of humour or anything but the bloody earthquakes become what defines us.