Welcome to 2015
I've seen a lot of end of year posts on Facebook recently, as you do every year, but the thing that gets me is that the majority of them are pretty pessimistic. Hey, I get that everyone can have a rough year every now and then - mine have been average at best since I can remember - but 2014 was the first year that I really felt like things were kind of going alright for me. When everyone else, as it would seem, has had such a miserable year, how do I say that things have actually been pretty good for once without seeming like an a**hole?
The year started off pretty great, I'll admit. I was travelling again, optimising the office down time in January like I was supposed to and decided to spent it over the New Year back in London. It was a great week, despite the traditional disappointing New Year's Eve (this time spent freezing my extremities off in Charring Cross waiting for the trains with a terrible view of the fireworks). As my second New Year in a row not only in Europe, but with my friend N, it was a far better start to the year than the crappy night suggested and was not up-heaved by the following day or the rest of the week. In fact it was a pretty sweet week in London, filled with musicals and fun, then when the week had ended I simply nipped across the pond to the City of Angels.
I'd been to LA twice before, but there was something so nice and uncomplicated about rocking up in the US with no plan. I had a week at a hostel and a ticket back to Oz a few weeks away but aside from that I was completely free. I met some amazing people and i revelled in the snapshot of freedom, but then I got the email that sort of changed everything.
Sitting at a table in the Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood boulevard, I used the free wifi to check my inbox and was beaten over the head with a notice of redundancy from work. Whilst I was on the holiday I'd not only been encouraged to take but had paid leave approved for. Tough call. It was a very hard moment, sitting in the restaurant by myself crying into my cocktail, and when I got home there were long minutes spent skyping my parents to explain the situation and receiving a lot of tough love in return. But the next morning even though I didn't have a clue about what I was going to do next I knew it was going to be alright, in fact not only did I know it would be fine I was also kind of glad.
My old job was great. I had less office hours, and I got to go adventuring in the untamed fields of the Pilbara, but it wasn't all roses. Office politics made for a difficult living situation sometimes and by the end it became very much the masses versus the upper management. In a nutshell, combined with changing laws and outside forces alongside the problems within, I was already feeling like I wanted things to end a bit. Plus the outback was cool, but it had never encompassed the goals I'd set for myself in life.
It was tough and kind of a rude wake up call that most definitely left me in the lurch - especially since I already had the return ticket to Oz - but guess what? It was sort of the kick in the pants that I needed. I was going nowhere fast continuing the way that I was, I didn't have a plan anymore and time was rolling along without me.
I spent the rest of the month kicking about in the US before splashing out in Disneyland and coming home, then immediately booked myself to leave again. I shopped around for work, I did some things around the house and I just floated, but when I say my heart wasn't really in it I'm not joking. It took me longer to figure out how to reconstruct my life, but I knew how I wanted the year to pan out and that was by taking all my savings and travelling until I literally couldn't any more without help. I did do some constructive things in that time though like crashing a course at my old university and brushing up on my Greek Mythology, writing, and having a very well worth it LOTR marathon. I did plenty of other stuff too like volunteering and working back at the coffee shop, but when I was trying to desperately pinch every penny it was a little hard to use money for much else.
It took 3 months and finally the day came to wave my house goodbye. It felt like an eternity before it came, but when it did I was so eager to pack up my bags again and run to the airport with my new journal that if it had been a film I'm sure I'd have made some comic fail. Which when I think back to how I'd spent the night before trying to fix my phone after iOS updates decided to make it explode and still ended up having to manual reload I suppose there was.
For almost 5 months I wandered around Europe, Morocco, and South East Asia. I wrote all about my adventures already so all I can really say here is how completely wonderful the whole thing was. It was far from perfect and not everything went according to plan, but I virtually got to pick it back up and spend the better part of the year doing exactly what I wanted the way I wanted. I saw so much I never had before, meet more amazing people and achieved some goals I'd been placing along the way. Who could fault that even if I struggled some days, missed some trains, got upset sometimes, and hulked out my biceps a little with my heavy case (I don't do backpacks). For better and worse this adventure is going to stay with me like the tattoo I got to commemorate the way the adventure made me feel.
So, 2014? Regardless of whether or not the past few weeks having been a little up and down, I refuse to remember this year for the bad when it has been so monumental to my life and personality. My 2014 will always have a very special place, especially after 2011, 2012 and parts of 2013...
But the adventure wasn't even the end of it. I walked straight into a job when I got home that I actually like and get to refer to myself as Agent Sam, which I didn't think was a possibility after I had to give up on my dreams of joining MI6. I was totally capable as a dual citizen, but I'd have had to give up my Australian side and that might've been too big a decision for me.
This year has been a whirlwind and it really has gone so fast. I started off quite different to the way that I ended and no matter how I can feel sometimes I regret nothing. 2014 was a good year for me. I'm sorry if it wasn't for you, and I wish you the best this year, but I needed what came to me in my 24th. I can only hope, with a terribly cliched sentiment, that 2015 does not erase the good that has been done.
I don't have any set resolutions or goals like I usually do, but I just hope that I stay happy. I hope you can keep it or find it if you need it.
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2015.
Cupid, you keep staying away. Dionysus, you come with me but bring your mate Artemis along for the ride.
The year started off pretty great, I'll admit. I was travelling again, optimising the office down time in January like I was supposed to and decided to spent it over the New Year back in London. It was a great week, despite the traditional disappointing New Year's Eve (this time spent freezing my extremities off in Charring Cross waiting for the trains with a terrible view of the fireworks). As my second New Year in a row not only in Europe, but with my friend N, it was a far better start to the year than the crappy night suggested and was not up-heaved by the following day or the rest of the week. In fact it was a pretty sweet week in London, filled with musicals and fun, then when the week had ended I simply nipped across the pond to the City of Angels.
I'd been to LA twice before, but there was something so nice and uncomplicated about rocking up in the US with no plan. I had a week at a hostel and a ticket back to Oz a few weeks away but aside from that I was completely free. I met some amazing people and i revelled in the snapshot of freedom, but then I got the email that sort of changed everything.
Sitting at a table in the Hard Rock Cafe on Hollywood boulevard, I used the free wifi to check my inbox and was beaten over the head with a notice of redundancy from work. Whilst I was on the holiday I'd not only been encouraged to take but had paid leave approved for. Tough call. It was a very hard moment, sitting in the restaurant by myself crying into my cocktail, and when I got home there were long minutes spent skyping my parents to explain the situation and receiving a lot of tough love in return. But the next morning even though I didn't have a clue about what I was going to do next I knew it was going to be alright, in fact not only did I know it would be fine I was also kind of glad.
My old job was great. I had less office hours, and I got to go adventuring in the untamed fields of the Pilbara, but it wasn't all roses. Office politics made for a difficult living situation sometimes and by the end it became very much the masses versus the upper management. In a nutshell, combined with changing laws and outside forces alongside the problems within, I was already feeling like I wanted things to end a bit. Plus the outback was cool, but it had never encompassed the goals I'd set for myself in life.
It was tough and kind of a rude wake up call that most definitely left me in the lurch - especially since I already had the return ticket to Oz - but guess what? It was sort of the kick in the pants that I needed. I was going nowhere fast continuing the way that I was, I didn't have a plan anymore and time was rolling along without me.
I spent the rest of the month kicking about in the US before splashing out in Disneyland and coming home, then immediately booked myself to leave again. I shopped around for work, I did some things around the house and I just floated, but when I say my heart wasn't really in it I'm not joking. It took me longer to figure out how to reconstruct my life, but I knew how I wanted the year to pan out and that was by taking all my savings and travelling until I literally couldn't any more without help. I did do some constructive things in that time though like crashing a course at my old university and brushing up on my Greek Mythology, writing, and having a very well worth it LOTR marathon. I did plenty of other stuff too like volunteering and working back at the coffee shop, but when I was trying to desperately pinch every penny it was a little hard to use money for much else.
It took 3 months and finally the day came to wave my house goodbye. It felt like an eternity before it came, but when it did I was so eager to pack up my bags again and run to the airport with my new journal that if it had been a film I'm sure I'd have made some comic fail. Which when I think back to how I'd spent the night before trying to fix my phone after iOS updates decided to make it explode and still ended up having to manual reload I suppose there was.
For almost 5 months I wandered around Europe, Morocco, and South East Asia. I wrote all about my adventures already so all I can really say here is how completely wonderful the whole thing was. It was far from perfect and not everything went according to plan, but I virtually got to pick it back up and spend the better part of the year doing exactly what I wanted the way I wanted. I saw so much I never had before, meet more amazing people and achieved some goals I'd been placing along the way. Who could fault that even if I struggled some days, missed some trains, got upset sometimes, and hulked out my biceps a little with my heavy case (I don't do backpacks). For better and worse this adventure is going to stay with me like the tattoo I got to commemorate the way the adventure made me feel.
So, 2014? Regardless of whether or not the past few weeks having been a little up and down, I refuse to remember this year for the bad when it has been so monumental to my life and personality. My 2014 will always have a very special place, especially after 2011, 2012 and parts of 2013...
But the adventure wasn't even the end of it. I walked straight into a job when I got home that I actually like and get to refer to myself as Agent Sam, which I didn't think was a possibility after I had to give up on my dreams of joining MI6. I was totally capable as a dual citizen, but I'd have had to give up my Australian side and that might've been too big a decision for me.
This year has been a whirlwind and it really has gone so fast. I started off quite different to the way that I ended and no matter how I can feel sometimes I regret nothing. 2014 was a good year for me. I'm sorry if it wasn't for you, and I wish you the best this year, but I needed what came to me in my 24th. I can only hope, with a terribly cliched sentiment, that 2015 does not erase the good that has been done.
I don't have any set resolutions or goals like I usually do, but I just hope that I stay happy. I hope you can keep it or find it if you need it.
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2015.
Cupid, you keep staying away. Dionysus, you come with me but bring your mate Artemis along for the ride.
Sam xox
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