The Answer Is...

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew And through it all, when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way.

- Frank Sinatra.

I have been attempting to start this new blog - which may I add, is now permanent - since I actually turned 42. But due to 2014 starting with mosquito borne illnesses, a fractured wrist and what could be considered the return of the Plagues of Egypt (on a personal scale) - it has taken a little longer than anticipated.

Nevertheless.

In tribute to Douglas Adams -

I may, perhaps, have found the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

It really is 42.

Last year was all about ticking things off a list. As it turned out, the things I eventually saw as 'achievements' were perhaps not those that I would have expected at the start of 2013. But they ended up being far more profound, and far more difficult, than I could ever have anticipated. So. To all those who loyally followed the41steps, here is my 'Year of Wonders' - make of it what you will. Not quite 41 things, because I don't want you to fall asleep!

1. Survived cancer.

2. Decided I hadn't had enough, and had another go.

3. Managed 3 countries in 3 days. With several buckets of champagne.

4. Got the Dread P back safely from some serious buccaneering. 

5. Moved states. 

6. Moved states again. 

7. Stayed loyal to the Tahs.

8. Remained an idiot (see above).

9. Co-launched an amazing online magazine. Pride. 

10. Made some serious mistakes. 

11. Made more mistakes. But not the same ones. Win. 

12. Sat in the middle of a dam on a mattress. It worked out OK. 

13. Wrote like a maniac.

14. Didn't give up.

15. Fell desperately in love. With someone who may vaguely resemble David Tennant.

I think that's enough to be going on with. Especially points 1,2... and definitely point 15.

I hope that those who have stuck with me throughout the two incarnations of my blog so far continue to do so. I love writing. It is a part of me. And this year - well, it's going to get bigger than ever.

Once I recover from mozzies and muddled bones.

Huzzah.

Carpe Jugulum

““Opportunities multiply as they are seized””

— Sun Tzu

I wrote something on Facebook yesterday that I firmly believe in - and it definitely seemed to resonate with a lot of people. I didn't write it for any reason other than the need to express what a 'Don't Stop Believing' kind of day I was having, but it was interesting to see the response. Below is what I had to say:

Good things may come to those who wait. They also come to those who seize life by the throat and say 'I'm grabbing this while the opportunity exists'.

I know the importance of patience and forbearance, and realising that not everything can magically occur at once; but I also know from experience that usually the only way things happen for us is if we get off our backsides and make them happen.

Opportunities are just that - opportunities. They are not a gift, nor are they a right. They are a privilege, and they don't come around every day. Sitting back and expecting to have things handed to one on a silver platter, with added lollipops and rainbows, is not just unrealistic, it's lazy in body and mind.

There have been a lot of times over the past decade when my body hasn't wanted to co-operate with my mind in terms of taking up chances. For someone with a busy brain and a lot of ambition, this is possibly the ultimate frustration. So for me, at present, despite a few challenges to face in the short-term, I am determined to throttle the bejeebers out of every chance that comes my way.

And to be enormously grateful for what I am grabbing with both hands and holding onto tightly.

If you are lucky enough to be sound in body and spirit, and there is something out there you want, take a chance. You may well get knocked back. I have been. But you may also succeed beyond your wildest dreams; and if you're anything like me, said dreams will be pretty wild.

Carpe jugulum. Seize the throat. Grab your life and give it a massive shake up. Rattle that brain pan and find out what adventure ride in life you really want to be on - and then hop on board.

And be grateful that you have the energy, strength and ability to purchase a ticket to ride.

Straighten Up And Fly Right

““Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
”

— William Arthur Ward

Coming back from time on holiday can make it very hard to get focus and firmness of purpose to the forefront of the brain. I know that in theory I am back in business mode, but in practice? Let's just say that my mind may be wandering to a more exotic locale, where there may or may not be blue skies, even bluer pools and a swashbuckling pirate.

However - back to the grind it is. And I was thinking about this last night, when an excess of 'I don't want to be here' was flooding my frontal lobe.

I am massively, massively lucky that said 'grind' is doing something that I enjoy. I have written before about having the luck - and it is luck - of being able to work in a job that I actually like. But it's more than that.

This is about being grateful for the chances I have been given. I am well aware that I have been incredibly fortunate in the business connections that I have; but you know what? I am also fortunate in that I have a marketable skill. And I honestly think that part of having said skill, and being able to make a potential living from it, means one must give out more than one takes.

I am not saying that I am going to dress in sackcloth and ashes and run around suddenly preaching to birds and animals; what I am trying to say is that if someone you care for, or whom you know doesn't have the resources you have, asks for help, and it's in an area that you know something about - give it. Don't be grudging about it either.

For me, expressing gratitude for what I am given by others on a daily basis in terms of guidance and knowledge has become essential. And the way I can do that? By paying it forward.

A very schoolmistressy post this one.

But that's OK. Because sometimes saying how grateful I am is not easy, nor lighthearted.

And it doesn't need to be. Being grateful is not always being happy; sometimes it is being realistic and simply saying what is in your heart.

And in this case, what is pumping around my chest is the message above.

Give back. And be grateful you are able to do so.

When We Were Very Young

““Piglet: How do you spell love?
Pooh: You don’t spell it, you feel it.””

— A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

I was thinking last night as I went to bed at an obscenely early hour (and actually went to sleeps, not just lay there and read until my eyeballs started to bleed) about innocence. It may seem like a strange thing to be thinking about, but it will make sense in a minute.

I was staying with a dear friend and work collaborator and her gorgeous family in Sydney last week. What strikes me each time about her children is how - well, child-like they are. And whilst this may sound like stating the obvious, in 2013, this is no mean feat. To keep kids from being, in the words of Noël Coward, 'jagged with sophistication', is damn hard. They are faced with so much that is adult in every direction. Things we never had to contend with.

The sheer amount of imagery alone. Then there is iEverything. And all of it is made so that species with non-opposable thumbs can operate it, let alone the most cunning and crafty creatures on the planet - anyone under the age of twelve.

I loved the fact that when they were watching a so-called 'kid-friendly' movie, her kidlets closed their eyes and ears until the scary bits were over. That they don't have every gadget under the sun. That they play outside as much as possible. It's the same with the Panda's beautiful girls, and in fact with all of my close friends' children - they are letting their kids be kids. Which is incredibly admirable, because my goodness, the peer group pressure must be enormous.

I am grateful to all the parents I know who are brave enough to let their children stay that way - child-like - as long as they can. Because every day I see a ten year old with a smart phone texting their friends that they don't ever want to talk to them again, or that they are fat, or something equally soul-destroying.

And they don't even spell it properly.

Generation C U L8R?

The mind boggles.