A Birthday and The 27 Adventure
It’s finally here. The day is nearly over in fact. The day I have been dreading for as long as I can remember. My 27th Birthday. I talked about it here about 6 months ago.
I’m not usually one to get hung up on birthdays and getting older. I see getting older as a blessing not a curse. It’s not getting older that scares me and keeps me awake at night. My mum never made it past 27 and it’s been playing crazies with my mind for a while, and I thought today would be terrible, but in the end the lead up and anxiety was far worse than the day itself.
Today was very me. It had great food – pancakes for breakfast, vegemite sandwiches for lunch, chocolate mousse birthday cake, homemade burgers and cheezels. It had great company – my Dad and a surprise visit from my aunt and uncle. It had birthday messages from friends and family and great weather. And it had time to breathe and relax with no rush to be anywhere. A lovely way to spend my last birthday (for the foreseeable future) in Australia.
But now it begins. I like to start my new year on my birthday. I’m not much of a NYE reveller, so I start my new beginnings today. I reached the amount of savings I need for my trip, in fact I passed it, late Friday. So I start this year with the money I need to make this trip and 2013 an amazing adventure. The kind that my 27th year needs.
I’m feeling excited for it. And ready. Not packed ready – I’m no where near that. But I can book the last of the things and buy the last of what I need to get. The next few weeks will be a blur of packing things and getting nostalgic; of laughter, fun and preparing for Alt.
I hope to be here more writing, but we will see. There will definitely be more to read once the trip gets started and the inspiration comes to visit.
I’ve been looking for a name for this trip and I finally found it today: The 27 Adventure. It sums it up perfectly and a grand adventure it’s sure to be.
But for now I say goodnight and goodbye to another birthday and feel blessed that I get to make my dreams happen and that there are great people in this world that I’m so lucky to call my friends.
xx
16,265km
That’s how far it is between Melbourne and Toronto. It’s not the furthest I’ve lived from home. The internet tells me that Glasgow is around 700km further, but it’s still a hell of a long way from here and in one month’s time, I’ll be on my way.
It still feels a bit surreal. Like it’s not happening to me. I’m not as organised for the USA part of the trip as I would like to be, but I’ll get there. There are still things to book, but the flights are done and the test pack of my suitcase tells me that there’s room to buy some new clothes that I so desperately need. I have decided that Boxing Day will be ‘Get Organised’ day. (December 26 for those who don’t get Boxing Day) It’s probably a good thing to set that day, really, as it’s usually one of my most motivated days of the year. Last year I painted my office on my own.
I’m emotionally ready for this trip. It’s been a long time coming and it’s just so awesome that I made a goal and am actually able to achieve it, and so long as everyone pays me what they owe, I will have more than what I need in monetary terms, which will also be a weight off. I won’t make the $20,000 I was aiming for, but that was more than I needed anyway. It was a nice round, and very ambitious goal and having it helped me to get as far as I have.
I hope this trip will help keep me inspired and find where I’m meant to be. It’s nearly time to say my goodbyes and get ready for a lot of friendly hellos from new and old friends and to find that adventure that I’ve been missing.
If we can just get through Birthday/Christmas week, I think we’re going to be ok.
x
Your Story is Important
I don’t really talk about my mental health much. Nobody really does. It’s not ‘cool’ and I always feel like people are staring me down, looking for the faker, the liar – because that’s how it felt when I was a kid. You weren’t bullied, you were just weak. That’s how they wrote your story.
But if you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that the sadness comes to visit. The doubt creeps in too. I think it happens to most people, we just see it all a little differently through our eyes and our own circumstances. But this post isn’t about the sadness, it’s about the light at the end of the tunnel.
A while ago, I really can’t remember when, I found out about this charity called To Write Love on Her Arms. It spoke to me in a way that other charities that focussed on mental health awareness didn’t. It spoke to me, it didn’t talk at me. It’s primary purpose from my perspective is to let young people and creatives know that they are not alone and that there is someone out there who ‘gets it’.
Their message and the work that they do made me wish they were around when I was younger. It was tough to be a kid who was without the parent that society deemed to be the ‘proper’ caregiver. It was tough to be the kid that knew exactly who she was and didn’t want to hide from that. I lost a bit of her, the fearless one, over the years, but she’s in there somewhere.
I love TWLOHA because their messages are simple: Your Story is Important; Love is the Movement. They are messages that breed hope. They remind us what is important. Love beats hate every time.
It was hard for me to choose the t-shirt I wanted from their store, but it’s the one in the selfie above that resonated with me, the creative, the most. I wear it when I’m having a hard day to remind me to do these things. Sometimes I wear it when I’m feeling awesome so that it speaks to someone else that needs to hear it.
If the last 4 years of being a part of the twitter creative/blogging community has taught me anything, it’s that we can deal with things better when we have someone who gets it. Someone who believes. With birthday number 27 looming, I believe more than ever that we need to stand together and talk these things out. Everybody’s story is important. We are all working hard to carve a good future for ourselves.
I think you’re doing a great job, even if you can’t quite see it today. If you can’t see past the doubt, ask someone to have a look for you, they just might be able to.
Here’s to big dreams, and loving all our victories – even the tiny ones.
x
