New Year, New Heights

"Why only reach for the stars when there's a whole galaxy to explore?"

- A. Ozua

Have you ever woken up so content and at peace that the walls could be tumbling down around you whilst every known predator to man (beast, disease, fellow man, overzealous barbers/hairdressers and taxes) stare ravenously at you awaiting their chance to bring about your demise, and yet you keep smiling and remain unaffected? Yes? Me too. I did not, however, wake up in that frame of mind today.

Whilst I was happy and feeling rather loved on account of all of the personalised New Years texts and Blackberry Messenger messages that awaited me (don’t you just love messages addressed to you as opposed to generic forwards), I wasn’t deliriously happy which quite frankly, I think is great!

I don’t begrudge anyone who chooses to begin their year bubbling over with glee and naive optimism, but the ‘optimistic realist’ in me knows how much work is needed to put in to achieve half of what I want so starting it on such a high could only lead to a nasty shock if I should come across a stumbling block – which in life is always inevitable.

I don’t want to use clichéd statements and tell you that 2011 will be “the year for me” or “the best year I’ve ever had” because, apart from finding such generalisations so passé and believing that actions speak louder than words, I plan to accomplish quite a lot in my lifetime and unless I fall prey to a premature death, 2011 will be one of many good years for me – I hope. Morbidity aside, I will simply say that the mere thought of the next 12 months both excite and scare me in equal measure.

Admittedly 2010 wasn’t quite the year I wanted nor expected but it was certainly what I needed. I learnt a lot and rediscovered myself as well as making myself proud with the handling of a few unpleasant situations that arose. I finished my masters on a subject matter I enjoyed, thereby closing (at least for now), one chapter of my life and met or got closer to some pretty extraordinary people. All in all, I gained far more than I lost.

On Christmas day (a belated Merry Christmas by the way), I sold out and joined Twitter! I know I know, I didn’t think I ever would either but so many writers/creatives I meet always wonder why I’m not on it and I got tired of trying to justify my aversion so I figured I’d finally give it a try. I still haven’t gotten the hang of tweeting yet but over the next few weeks I’ll be making more of an effort so please feel free to follow me @assumpta13.

I don’t tend to make New Years resolutions but I have a mental list of things I want to accomplish and writing more regular blog posts is one of them. As I stated in my pervious offering, they won’t be as long as they used to be (unless a topic really moves me) but they will be more frequent.

So, until then, I’d like to thank you for reading and sticking with me – both old and new readers and would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year! Those of you who haven’t started work/studying again then enjoy the rest of your holidays and get as much rest as possible - I know I will be before work next week!

x

"To accomplish something you've never done before you have to go to places you've never been. So don't be afraid and take a leap of faith. "