Think before you say Yes

I have a terrible habit of saying yes to things without thinking it through. Or thinking that I want something and making it happen without actually considering if I really want it or not. I also believe that once you agree to something you should stick it out. I'm reliable, I'm not a quitter and I'm stubborn as all hell.

Combining these two things can be dangerous. Sometimes it can be positive, sometimes they can be negative. This is the reason I have a trade, am doing an MBA, got engaged, travelled around Spain with my bestie, built a school in Nepal, went to India by myself, taught Engineering, got multiple tattoos and piercings, moved to England, learnt to SCUBA and a variety of other random events in my life.

Recently I signed up to do a half marathon after being inspired by some ultra-fit, awesome people in Nepal to put it on my new years resolutions. This is the latest "Yes, I'll do that... wait ... oh sh*t.." in my life. Up until a few weeks ago 4km was the longest I'd ran since high school. I would classify myself as reasonably fit, but not marathon fit by any means.
For example, I eat McDonalds most days, have an addiction to Coca-Cola, I hardly ever cook or grocery shop, I drink alcohol 6 days a week and do not get 8 hours sleep most nights.
But I do run short distances often and dance all night long at least twice a weekend. Excellent fitness regime!

And this is where the "wait.. oh sh*t.. " comes in. Obviously I needed to step it up a level with longer runs and potentially better food.

I would like to say I stuck to my training schedule like a world class athlete, but alas I did not.
The Hawthorne theory is where by simply monitoring an occurrence you will cause it to improve. So with this in mind I started monitoring my compliance to my running schedule/fitness/drinking habits. I can now say that I achieved a 44% compliance to eating well, a 36% compliance to not drinking excessively and a 50% compliance to my running schedule.
Not a great result. Imagine if Hawthorne wasn't involved!

But I did it!! – I ran the 21.1kms in 2hours, 7seconds and although I struggled every step of the way I’m stoked I did it.

Now for the bombshell… (in my classic “whats next” style)

The morning of my half marathon I received an email saying that my group has been accepted for the Oxfam trailwalker. This is a team race through the bush, over very steep hilly terrain, for 100km.
Yup, 100km.
I'm told it is an ultra marathon...

It’s from the central coast into Sydney and we’ve got a target time of 18hours. 18hours of running/jogging or walking, 18 hours of pain, 18 hours of fun!!
I can’t wait but oh sh*t, what have I got myself into?!

Check out the course here:
http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/sydney/trail/

However it is all for charity and this is where you come in. Our goal is to raise $5000 for Oxfam who do amazing work all across the world and make a difference to millions of lives every year. I’m running with a group of architects so donate or check our team here: http://trailwalker.oxfam.org.au/sydney/teams/team/?team_id=12595

The race isn’t until August so I’ll send through progress updates as the time gets closer. I’m also doing a marathon as part of my training in June. Yup, just a training run of 42kms… Oh sh*t.

Not to worry, here comes the stubborn part – bring it on! :)

2012: What do I do now?

In the last week I have returned home to Australia and my life has taken an unexpected turn. Subsequently most of my future plans have a giant question mark over them and I am now faced with endless possibilities.

Every situation you find yourself in can either be positive or negative dependant on your perspective. It's a tempting safe and easy option to decide to stay in bed for a week (or a month) or blame everyone else, but that's not me. Some of my strongest qualities (in my opinion) is my unwavering naive optimism and my stubborn determination. Unfortunately, this coupled with a innate trust in my fellow man that often leaves me with deep scars, but better to trust and be hurt than to not trust anyone.. Theoretically.

So here I am.
I am young and healthy with cash in the bank, no where to be and no one to answer too. It is a difficult but enviable situation to be in.
I appreciate how lucky I am to be in this privileged situation where I have choices, BUT.... What do I do next? Where do I go? What will happen to me? Will I be OK? Am I able to deal with whatever comes my way?
My choices and options are only limited by my imagination, capabilities and guts to see it through, which (fingers crossed) isn't much of a limit.

Here are a few of my thoughts and options, feel free to vote.

• Work in the Northern Rivers as a reliability engineer and live at the beach
• Move back to Newcastle to work
• Become a full time uni student at Tweed Heads
• Migrate to Canada with a 2 year visa and go skiing everyday
• Sign up for Medecins Sans Frontieres and go work in a war zone for a year
• Become a maintenance consultant in Sydney
• Buy a van and travel around Aus
• Go work in the middle of nowhere (mining towns) earning big bucks
• Work with indigenous communities in rural Australia
• Save up a house deposit and buy a house to renovate
• Join the Army (combat engineer)
• Work as a farm hand sheering sheep
• Fall in love with the next guy who asks me out (probable)
• Become a lesbian hippy in a commune in Byron Bay
• Become a monk/nun and move to Asia
• Walk/hitch from the East coast of Aus to the West coast
• Go back to Nepal and live in the hills
• Pack my backpack and hop back on a plane

When I look at my options I'm overwhelmed. I can't help but want to go back to the original plan, the only one that is unavailable. My life so far has been sculptured by random off the cuff suggestions combined with a hint of opportunity and I have no doubt that the next steps will be by this method also. I just have no idea what that may be... 

Bob Marley

Bob Marley's music is an international language. 


His music has survived several generations and spread across the entire world. Every country I have been to there has been Bob Marley playing at some point.  And why not? The laid back tunes fit the hostel demographic perfectly. They're about enjoying life, accepting others and generally being happy. Who could have a problem with that? 


One of my favourite songs is 'Three Little Birds' 
The lyrics tell a story of him waking up and three little birds on his doorstep are singing to him. The birds sing to him "Don't worry 'bout a thing, 'Cause every little thing [is] gonna be all right." 


Like all of his songs it's open for interpretation. Some would say he forgot to mention his morning joint that causes the birds to speak directly to him. But I prefer to interpret it as how we should all see the world. Wake up, the sun is shining, it's a beautiful day and everything is going to be all right. Happy days! Imagine if the whole word thought like that. Imagine if every morning three little birds reassured you, how different would your day be with a carefree, optimistic attitude?