The Long Weekend

Hey there cyberworld! How's life treating you? I hope you're out there, living and loving life.

This will be my second attempt of the day in trying to write a blog post. My first one was full of confusing tangents and unclear lines of thought - blah! So goodbye (well, 'save') crappy post, hello fresh new post.

Today is a public holiday (Happy Australia Day!) so happily I am sat on the couch with my laptop propped up on (well, where else) my lap. I've just been doing a swag of blog reading and was thus inspired to post one of my own. Look at me being all not totally lax in updating my blog!

I've been thinking about the past few days while considering a topic for my post. I've had a really great four-day weekend which has been totally lovely for the most part, but also given me some moments of genuine sadness. I spent Sunday with my dear friend Nicci, who has leukaemia and has just been diagnosed as having a few weeks left to live. It was wonderful to spend the time with her, and when we got the chance to be alone, we could talk and laugh and share in a way I cherish now and will be very grateful for when she is gone.

Having lost my friend Penny in August last year, it has been a strange experience to be saying goodbye to another dear friend. In some ways, losing Penny has prepared me for saying goodbye to Nicci, but as with both of these women (who never knew each) each relationship I have with them and their illnesses has been completely individual.

Penny never spoke about her diagnosis, and was so ill that it didn't seem certain that she was even aware of what was happening. Instead, we all just spent as much time having fun with Penny as possible in the last couple of weeks and could ultimately draw comfort from sharing those experiences together.

Nicci and I have always had a special ability to get right down to the heart of the matter, and to show each other how special we are to each other. I'm very grateful that our time together on Saturday was no different.

The other days this long weekend have actually been great and I feel like I've made some amazing connections with my loved-est of loved ones. For example, my mum and I have shared some fantastic conversations in which she has allowed me to bounce around ideas about decisions and some huge inroads I've been making in terms of my life. I feel re-energised by these interactions and even in the face of some real sadness, excited about the future. Which is brilliant.

This post has been difficult to write, not so much due to my personal feelings but rather in wondering whether to even write it at all. It is a strange prospect to send these thoughts out into the world. I can be a tad private at times so the prospect of 'hitting' publish is a bit daunting. But I know I will, and I thank anyone who takes the time to read this.

Stay cool.

Cheers
Tracy

Fresh beginnings

Hey there, and happy new year to all!

I hope everyone is well after Christmas and are looking forward to a bright and shiny new year.

Enough chit chat - I'm going to launch right in! I have given a lot of thought to this blog, and am often thinking of posts I’d like to write, and yet I do not update very often at all. Add to this the idea of creating a post after my previous post (so sad). But I think ultimately I’ve been held back by not knowing what the blog is about. Then, in a flash of insight, I realised that it’s about whatever I want it to be about! It doesn’t have to have a theme, and way of delivering messages (a photo a day, inspirational quotes etc.) - it just has to be about whatever I want to put in there. I’m into heaps of different stuff, so what better outlet to get all of this stuff out of my head and into a creative outlet than a blog. Brilliant!

I was inspired to create a blog by the awesome folks over a The Best Life Ever (http://www.thebestlifeever.blogspot.com/) as their blog, and whole life for that matter, is open and sincere and I wanted me some of that. But by comparing myself (or more specifically my life) to others only led to frustration and a feeling that I’m not living up to my idea of happiness. So enough. I’ve decided that I will have a blog like mine, not like anybody elses. And that’s just dandy.

Plus, I've realised it's not just enough to write a blog and send it out into the vacuum of space without also putting myself out there into the big, wide world. I commented on a blog recently and the author kindly replied (using my name - wow!), and I must confess that I was so incredibly jazzed at this connection. Now I'm determined and resolved to join in and play well with others.

I love a bit of planning. I love lists. I love reflecting and nutting out problems. I love thinking about ways to live a better, happier, more creative, more intuitive etc. (all those good things) life. I read veraciously about these topics and feel excitement coursing through my being when I hit on brilliant concepts and ideas that just resonate. But then I find I’m still not making the changes necessary to move forward. I am, you might stay, stuck.

With the end of the year approaching my mania for planning (or intentioning as the excellent Danielle LaPorte would say) added to my equal mania for gettin’ my happy on, has led me to a point where I am not only going to make a list but actually follow through on it. Crazy concept, but just crazy enough to work.

I’m just so gosh darn excited about the possibilities!

That said, I’m looking forward to seeing what is in store in Blogland: 2010.

Happy New Year everyone.

Cheers
Tracy