I have a lot going on in a small space.

My world used to be huge. I would fly interstate and overseas without a second thought. Sydney Airport felt like a second home.

But now? I haven’t even had time to pick up my new passport which has been languishing, uncollected, for four months.

I do the rounds of the supermarkets and the pharmacy, the school run and my daily walk. I sit in my home office and bash out endless hours of work.

My life takes place in a 10km radius.

I could be sad about that – and sometimes, when I hear about events where guests find diamonds in the bottom of their Champagne glasses, or look at my friends’ Facebook feeds of exotic places, I feel a sense of loss. My old life feels like a wonderful, if exhausting, dream.

But the truth is ten square kilometres is all I can handle right now. I don’t have the money or the mental space to go much further.

So I turn my gaze to where I am. To the birds in the nature reserve. To the tiny daily developments in the garden. To the details in the heritage buildings in the main street. I need to stay here in my nest with my fledglings and my mate because this is the primary job of motherhood: to feed and protect the babies until they can care for themselves.

As Oprah said, ‘You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once’. And so I choose to stay small for now, knowing that one day my world will expand again to include souks and spires, Trans-Siberian train rides and Himalayan high country.

I choose to be happy here because this small life, like a strawberry, is very sweet.