Why am I stuck in England?!

A fisherman waits patiently near the ocean at Seaforth, Sydney.

‘Why am I stuck in England?’ a question asked rethorically by a friend today whilst she watched a video of the Phillipines online. I think the channel was ‘Unilad Travel’, a page that posts numerous videos and images onto Facebook daily. I see these comments every now and then on social media and it really makes me think. 

Firstly, no one is ‘stuck’. Unless you are from North Korea or a small handful of other very oppressive nations, or have another extreme circumstance holding you back. If you have the ability to post on Facebook and have enough leisure time to blog, stuck is probably a complete exaggeration.

Secondly, the time and effort put into social media posts could easily be used towards travel goals. Save, choose where you want to go and go. Whether it takes 3 weeks or 3 years it can be done and that day will one day be tomorrow. 

This fisherman didn’t whine about not being able to fish today. He realised he wanted to and did it. If you feel stuck, realise it is probably your mind that is causing the block and not the things around you. Become unstuck!

The train that never comes

I love this shot taken today, the reflection of an underground station appears as a ghost station further down the street. People are apparently seated in preparation for its arrival.

Some people wait for this train, not right here but in life. Instead of realising that the train will never come, they insist on waiting and using faith to remain convinced. Personally, I like to get up and move on. I cannot wait for too long. 

Every moment we are seated we are wasting an opportunity to do something. To wait is to procrastinate. I want to live a life in which I am waiting for others less and making the moves myself, that is when the satisfaction comes about.

Are you someone that waits at that station, or makes your own way to the destination?

Scratch your name

There is something beautiful about carving your name into history when it isn’t in a toilet cubicle.

This was below a bar if you’re wondering, I took a snap whilst waiting to be served.

When it is welcomed it’s fun. It is fascinating to read who it is and when it was, where they are from and the reason for being there. I love being able to glimpse into the lives of other people, even if it is for a second.  Whole lives glanced at for a few short moments, marriages and anniversaries, birthdays and first dates… Interesting stories that would be missed if I was to simply look elsewhere.

This is our everyday. We walk by amazing stories daily without knowing, as do others when they walk right by us. I built a tolerance for other people in the street when they seem mad, rushed or genuinely ignorant when I considered the fact that they may have similar problems to me. It is easy to judge a person instantly without the experience behind the scenes.

Thankfully, everyone seems content in this image, even Lucky despite losing her phone and wallet.

If you can’t be lucky, be happy.

Shape life before it shapes you

A wind bent tree is shackled by its roots. It cannot evade, only endure. This picture was taken on a very windy day on the Isle of Wight, I was sitting inside a car which explains the reflection. It also reflects my current thoughts.

So many factors contribute to how we currently feel. Our jobs, relationships, health, wealth, social status, location, the weather…The list goes on for as long as we want it to. 

Some of these cannot be controlled, some can. Although it is important that we make the most of what we are able to control, it is vital to react positively to what we cannot. I have found that throughout life I have often reacted badly to what I cannot control and for that, have dramatically reduced my productivity with what I can change. 

As with any time period, we have to accept that society will mould us to a certain degree. That we are victims of circumstance that may deprive us of education and freedom, creativity and opportunity. With that being said, some of the most successful and inspirational people among us have had that same burden. We can reduce the degree in which it affects us.

The ability that we possess that a tree does not is that we can resist. We can move and rebel, relocating away from that heavy pressure of society and into a place in which those strong winds launch us forward instead of hold us back. It’s simply about looking in the right places and being willing to change direction. 

A seemingly impossible climb can become the easiest walk with a simple 180.

Is it Friday yet?

Does anyone have a day of the week that they hate more than the usual suspect Monday?

I started typing this yesterday, hence the reference.

The fun part about leaving a job I have been in for a pretty long time is that those last few weeks are actually very enjoyable. I remember that Friday feeling in school, I still had to work but knowing the weekend was coming got me through. August is that Friday for me. I feel relaxed as the sun sets on this particular job and time in my life.

My aim is to live a life that consists purely of that Friday feeling. We all do. The days of the week were created by people and with that, the Monday to Friday work schedules. Working in hospitality I don’t often get the weekends off, if anything it helps me see how commonplace the 9-5 is. Seeing the waves of people pile onto the streets from the underground stations at 8.30am on Monday and fill the pubs by 5.30pm Friday, we really are fixed to a certain course. Friday is the day in which the lead is taken away from our neck and we get to run around with the other humans for a little bit.

But be back by Monday.

It is great to have that mutual celebration on Friday afternoon cheering on the next two days of freedom, but the more we live like everyone else the less we get to tell a unique story. The less fuel to provide a story that is different from the rest and certainly less time to experience one. I find blogging is an escape from this as it is the channel in which I get to express the most freedom. I post when I want about what I want. No deadlines or word counts. This is also one of the reasons I am looking forward to travelling so much. The extra freedom to blog without the constraints of my working life holding me back, as temporary as this may turn out to be. If I ever get combine the two, I will be very happy indeed.

Have a great Tuesday… and make it as Friday as possible.

Your the key to you’re success

I find some people are unwilling to accept help or advice if it exposes a personal flaw. People are very reluctant to receive constructive criticism, rightly so if it is done in a condescending fashion.

I personally love my own flaws being exposed. That one moment and acknowledgement of imperfection helps me to become that little bit closer to perfection in whatever it was I was doing at the time. 

Question. If you are reading a post, Facebook status or watching someone create an email in which they type ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ and you are with the author, would you tell them? I don’t think it is a bad thing to do so. If it is considerate and good willed, I don’t see the problem. The problem is so many people would rather shun the correction and try to preserve pride, although that pride is an illusion as people pretend there wasn’t a mistake in the first place.

I have just read a post by a very ambitious, highly driven person right before this post and thought I’d ask. There is no quicker way to success than getting help along the way. Accepting it costs nothing, but may be invaluable. 

It’s cool to act stupid

I see there is a big trend online for people to either pretend they are more stupid than they are, or boast about it.

I stumble (pun very much intended) upon images and memes all the time, people sharing them proudly to glorify how they should have been brought up with bubble wrap.

Why boast about being stupid or clumsy? I’m all for admitting flaws and that I am not the perfect person, it just seems a waste of valuable time to make sure the Internet knows my weaknesses instead of strengths. They don’t even have to be strengths, just something a little more optimistic and moral boosting. 

It’s hard enough for us mortals to be heard and find a job that utilities our strengths, I am trying more than ever to use such opportunities as a boost and not a put-me-down. 

Thursday thoughts

If anyone is described as ‘one in a million’ in a world of 7 billion people, be wary.

We are all born unique and over time strive to blend in as much as possible.

Don’t settle for average!

Monday motivation

What could lift that Monday morning mood more than a giant yellow poodle?

Spotted in the entrance to a store in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Mondays don’t have to be hated. In fact, I feel if I am ever in a job that requires me to hate a Monday, I am not in a job that I enjoy. And if I am not in a job that I enjoy, I will try to find a job that I enjoy.

Blogging is that job for me. I love getting up on a Monday knowing that I can put a post out there and if I enjoy it more than my full time job that actually pays me, I am going to keep doing it. Too many people moan. I know that is what I did right there, sometimes we have to fight fire with fire. If you are in a job that you hate, find something outside of that job that will inspire you to get up and look forward to the day. We are here against incredible odds, we are way too fortunate to hate the opportunity we get to get out of bed every day.

Sunday evening shouldn’t feel like staring down the barrel of a cannon. It should feel like the cannonball being launched into another incredible week of discovery, opportunity and happiness.

Have a fantastic week!

I hope my day improves…

I didn’t have the best start to today. I stared at the empty shampoo bottle that I forgot to replace- again– when I stumbled into the shower. I got out and ready, eagerly awaiting my peanut butter and banana on toast. No bananas.

Off to the store I went.

Pie and a pint… Ultimate comfort food? Enjoying a quick bite and blog before work parts us once again.

Headphones on, the cheap plastic pair that I have to wear whilst I look for decent pair that I lost one day before flying to Spain. I plodded along to the relevant aisles. I grabbed what I needed and walked to the checkout, a choice of three very busy tills as the additional seven or eight checkouts were not being used. I haven’t actually seen them in operation, they get as much use as that elevator in The Big Bang Theory. I’m pretty sure they’re props, too.

Aisle 4 it was. As I was just about to place the items onto the conveyor belt (I decided five items were not enough for a basket) the shampoo slipped from the loose grip I had of it. The lid didn’t just fly off it snapped in two, the floor at this moment seeing more shampoo than my hair has in the past 48 hours. 

I was that annoying customer delaying everyone. I was wearing my headphones surely doubling the annoyance, a millennial clearly distracted by music making me incapable of even the simplest of tasks. ‘Sorry about that, I’ll pay for it at the till?’ I asked as the assistant cleaned up the mess.

‘No you will not!’ She replied in a mildly aggressive tone. If anyone was walking by I’m sure they would have assumed that I had asked if I could kick her whilst she was on her hands and knees from the delivery of her response. 

And at times like these such a response is justified. If a response is good willed, awesome. Customer service isn’t always smiles and face stroking, in fact it can seem a little more genuine to me.