So thats it for 2013.. onward to 2014 with a new mindset. I'm sad to say goodbye to 2013, a life changing year that has truly taught me a lot. I just want to take a moment to share some of those life-changers with you and reflect on what I have learnt from them, and things I think you could probably learn too...
I had surgery
As most of you would know already, over the summer I was diagnosed with gallstones and, as a result, had my gallbladder removed. Simple surgery, nothing too major. However, it is the first major medical event I have ever gone through. Never have I broken a bone, dislocated a joint... I'd never even had stitches. Scared was an understatement - which explains why I disobeyed every doctor I came into contact with and subsequently delayed surgery by about two weeks.
But I came out the other side. I had amazing support from my family, those with me and abroad at the time. The one lasting outcome of this event? I realised my own mortality just a little bit more. I could appreciate more the importance of looking after yourself. I saw that life is short.. too short to not say what you think, do what you want, be who you want. Illness and misfortune pop up with no warning.. the truth is that none of us have forever.
So live now. You wanna go to Brazil? Buy a flight. You like that guy? Let him know. You wanna learn a language? Book a class.. there isn't always going to be a later. It taught me its better to fail or be rejected than to leave it until later.
I attended a Personal Coaching weekend
I attended a free training event for personal coaching where we learnt and practiced coaching techniques on one another. It was all about self-reflection. Realising what you want and enabling yourself to get there. I'm not an overly ambitious person, and in the past have rejected to idea of goals, associating them with competitive career-minded people. But that weekend taught me that wanting something isn't enough, action is required and foresight. How many of us have ended up doing things we never thought we would do and it's just kind of happened? It's not where you wanted to be but you got there... Goals eliminate that. The hard part is knowing what you actually want and not what you are groomed to think you want.
My breakthrough moment was the realisation that I have been so conditioned by society, family and university into thinking a job and career progression is what I want. Ultimately, it's not. It may help enable what I want, but it's not the goal and in truth its not the only path to the goal.
I want to be happy. I want to travel. I want to live somewhere with a high ratio of happy positive people to miserable cynical people. I want to be surrounded by love, compassion and good food.
Something else I learnt here is that what we prioritise in our heads, the things we think are important, we don't always prioritise in our day to day living. How many of us would prioritise health or family? And how many of us prioritise that as an important part of our week? After work, study and other commitments, these things we think are important get pushed aside. Work life balance goes all wrong and work wins.. I realised I certainly need to actively make time for the things I think are important such as health, fitness and religion.
I lived and worked in Bali
There are many many things that those 11 weeks taught me.. but the biggest? There is another way to live. There are people whose work life balance is different. My societal and cultural conditioning is not "right". It's not "the one". There are many different versions of "right". You get a hint of this travelling, but you remain a tourist, not fully immersing. But settling somewhere different, even just for a matter of 11 weeks can teach you more than 20 countries in a year long world trip.
The main thing I will take from 2013 is to question everything and make sure it fits with me - not that I fit with it.
It's really been a life changer for me and if there are a few lessons I wanted to share with you all it was these:
-Life is short. Live now and do not fear failure or rejection.
-Life is unpredictable and can ruin the finest plans. Go with the flow.
-Take time to reflect and find out what you want, not what you're conditioned to want.
-Make time for the things you think are important.
-Lifestyles vary across the world, each one "right" in its own way. Find the one that is right for you.
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