On December 31st 2012, I was sipping on cocktails in a bar in Nah Trang, Vietnam, with two amazing friends. And we had this idea of filming ourselves saying what we wanted 2013 to bring us.
A few days ago, I was speaking to one of the friends I was in Vietnam with and remembered the videos we took. I asked her to send them to me for a laugh, so I can see how many of my predictions came through. And I stopped laughing when I realised I had turned quite a few of my prophecies into reality already.
The video isn’t something I’d happily post onto the world wide web due to the poor lighting (and arguably the many cocktails I had that night!), but I’m happy to list the things I mentioned I wanted to achieve in 2013 in my video:
– to complete two writing projects and get published
– to do a documentary which will become famous and will bring me lots of money
– to meet the love of my life and get married
– to quit my job
– to travel the world
– to get involved with lots of charity projects
– to adopt a child
A month and a half away from the end of 2013 I can say that I did the following:
– quit my job
– travelled to Bali
– almost finished one writing project
– met someone
– donated a couple of times to charity
Ok, so not as much as I set out to do initially, but let’s face it, I wanted way too much out of poor 2013. And I think in the end 2013 did deliver quite a lot. A hell of a lot more than all the previous years put together. Because quitting my job may very well mean that all my other plans will become a reality. It’s funny how much you can achieve when you have the luxury of time. Working but not feeling like it’s work, and allowing yourself as much downtime as you feel like to heal your body and mind from years of corporate conditioning.
”For fast-acting relief, try slowing down” – Lily Tomlin
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that sometimes it’s a really good idea to set out some wild plans for the coming year and make some of them true. Because you might just surprise yourself of how much of it you’ll turn into reality. My friend said in her video that she wanted to experience an adventure and leave London. She is now a qualified Zumba teacher and moved to Thailand. A mere year later!
I’ll start thinking about what I want out of 2014 and I’ll come up with an even crazier list. Because if I can nail just one thing… I’d probably be making history.
Because I’m not talking the usual ’Quit smoking’, ’Lose weight’ crap. I’m talking ’I want to change the world’ resolutions.