AMAZING THINGS I WANT TO DO IN MY LIFE.

1. Travel overseas at least once every two years
2. Be an amazing photographer
3. Get married and have children
4. Design my own house, witness its construction, then decorate it myself
5. Become an excellent cook
6. Write a book
7. Embark on a road trip around Australia in a caravan, with tents, hammocks, musical instruments and cameras.
8. Write an original song, play it and sing it.
9. Learn to ride a motorbike
10. Become good at one sport
11. Learn to make my own clothes
12. Live in another country for at least 1 year
13. Win a large sum of prize money
14. Become known for doing something really well
15. Discover something amazing, like an underwater city or a new species of whales or a temple somewhere deep in a dense forest.

So there you have it. My list of amazing things I want to do in my life. According to the internet, I'm now supposed to pick one or two of those things and think about getting started on one of them. Apparently, once having done this, I'll have a new found confidence and purpose.

Let's see now.

1. Yes, I could plan out the places I'd like to go in the next decade or so. That could work I suppose.
2. I need to get an awesome camera first, and study photography.
3. Um, yeah. I can't see this one working out anytime soon.
4. Oooh! I could design my own house!!! That's a bit exciting.
5. To be honest, I can't be bothered right now with this one.
6. I've been waiting for a couple of years for a brilliant idea to come to me. I still am.
7. Yeah, I need a caravan.
8. I could do this, but I kind of don't want to. (:
9. Sorta need a motorbike...
10. I could research really obscure sports to try?
11. Too much of a big project to start right now
12. Uhhhh...
13. Yeah....
14. Ahuh...
15. Hmmmm....

WELL! Aside from being rather pointless and a bit of a pain in the ass, writing that list and thinking about starting one of those huge projects on this very rainy afternoon made me feel more unmotivated and depressed than anything else, even if it did excite me just a little. Needless to say that this activity does not make me feel in any way 'confident', and why would it? It's just making a list of all the things that I may never be able to do in my lifetime, let alone right this very moment...

That's a big NO for activity number one giving me any kind of confidence.

Abbi fiducia in te stesso.

Self-confidence.
Ah geez, I could make a bloody big fool out of myself with what's on the cards for this week.


Here's what I've decided. As a bit of a joke, I'll pick 6 things that the internet claims 'make you feel self-confident'. And I'll do one of these things each day. Then I'll give a critique of whether it actually worked. And don't get your hopes up, I'm sure as hell not. Here's a brief itinerary, starting from tomorrow since today's nearly over already.

Tuesday - 'Write yourself a list of the amazing things you’d love to do in your life, and make a start by simply looking into the first one or two things that leap out at you.'
Wednesday - 'Flirt.  It’s a harmless way to play around with connecting with people and having fun.' Oh boy, am I going to have fun with that one.
Thursday - 'Don’t think for a second that you can’t be confident.  There are already loads of things you do with natural self-confidence, you just have to notice them and get familiar with how it feels.  Look for the things you do where the question of whether you’re confident enough never arises.'
Friday - 'You have to keep your mind well fed, so write a list of 20 things that keeps your mind feeling nourished and make sure you’re giving them room in your life.'
Saturday - 'Write a list of the things you’re tolerating and putting up with in your life, then write down how you can remove, minimise or diminish each one.'
Sunday - 'Next time you’re at a social event, don’t just stick with the people you know – go and have a conversation with someone you don’t know and you never know what – or who – you’ll discover.'

For all those who lack self-confidence, think of it as a review column. This one's for you.

Wise as wise can be.

^^ Not really.

I can't take the credit for this one. I know it's meant to be things that I've come up with on my own, but these lyrics by one of my favourite bands Biffy Clyro are just too good.
'You can't rely on someone else to be happy'.
Because putting all your eggs in one basket is a dangerous activity. Whether you invest your happiness in a person, hobby or prized possession, make sure it's permanent. If it goes, what's left, huh?

My final quote of the week is an original, sort of. I mean, my dad gave me the idea a few weeks ago, and I've since realised how absolutely true it is.
'Time flies with routine'.

Short but sweet. Spontaneity, travel, doing things constantly - they're the only things which really slow time down. Have you ever noticed how quickly the week passes while you're working, or sitting at home doing nothing, or studying? Do something every day for a week; pack each day to the very brim with activity and at the end of it all, when you look back to the first day it will have seemed like a year ago, not a week ago. I don't want to end up in a job doing the same thing every single day and then suddenly celebrate my 50th birthday with my grandchildren.
See what I mean?

Quote me on this.

My first quote is something I feel very strongly about. So I went the extra mile. With this one, I give you a movie made with my very own photos from some of the places I've been, accompanied by 'Where two oceans meet' by Josh Pyke. I thought it was appropriate.

'A life untravelled is a life not lived'. In other words: travel. Go places, see things, do things you can't do at home. And when you've been everywhere, seen everything and done everything, do it all again.

Looks like you'll have to watch my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kghhp_w7c38

A wise man once told me...

Ahoy hoy.
Let me just say, self respect week went fairly well. Nothing really exciting happened, not that I expected it to or anything, but you get what I mean. I didn't do any exercise (surprise surprise), nor did I eat particularly well (in fact I may have eaten worse). But I felt good about myself and that's a very good start, because when you feel good, nothing else really matters all that much.
So this week is going to be a little difficult, because I don't quite know what this word truly means. Well, sure, I have an idea, but at the ripe old age of 17 I don't really think I could give a full definition of this word and be completely sure about it. Wisdom. There's all that talk about wisdom coming with age, about developing wisdom as you get older after you've experienced many different corners of life, blah-di-blah-di-blah, whatever.
But who says I haven't got just a little bit of wisdom? 17 years of life may not seem like much, but I think there are some lessons I've learned, and learned well.
So my mission this week is to come up with at least 3 very definite truths; things that I truly believe in. Even if you don't. Three of my own quotes, if you like. And with each quote this week, I'll also post a photo, just to make my page more attractive. :D
And if anybody is reading this, I urge you to encourage your inner old person this week. Think about things more deeply than you usually would. Think twice, think carefully, and think well.

Photo of the week.

Holy mother of God.

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post. How time flies!! So I have a few things to report:

- My Happiness week (the week before last) went pretty well. Except for one night when I was in a bad mood and wanted to cry for a couple of hours, I was generally in a fairly good mood.
- Last week was Positivity. Since I had my driving test on Friday afternoon and was crapping my pants in the few days beforehand, this one came in handy. And boy was it challenging. I kept saying, 'Oh sweet Jesus I'm going to fail miserably and then waste another $150 paying for another stupid test and then fail again and waste another $150...' and so it went. Friday came, and Friday went. I got my license. Every time I had a negative thought I pushed it back, and I have a feeling that my semi-confidence did actually help. Then Sunday was the best day of the year so far; so that definitely made me feel positive about where my life was headed. I made some pretty major decisions about where I'd like to travel to, which put me in a very good mood. Let's just say I'm a compulsive planner.
- Finally, I've now landed myself in the week which I was dreading from the start: self-respect. I'm not very good at that one. Gorging myself on chocolate and cookies got me off to a pretty bad start tonight. My plan is just to eat a little more healthy than usual and maybe even do some exercise. And I'm not going to put myself down, unless I do something ridiculously embarrassing, like farting at work. Just an example...

I hereby swear that I will love myself sick.