I'll do it, when I can.
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It'll get easier.
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No one wants to come with me.
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There's always next year.
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What will people think?
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I'm saving money now. I'll do it after.
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He would hate me if I did it without him.
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How lame would I look?
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This isn't in tune with my "Insta-persona"
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So I've just had another splendid weekend, coated in brunch dates, football festivities, first dates with new friends, visits to Jemima, an afternoon dip at the beach and nights spent dancing the night away with European backpackers and high price call girls. And although I finished up the weekend ironing a month worth of garments and cleaning my apartment, my weekend was, to say the least, fantastic. In fact every weekend is fantastic. Every week is brilliant. Every day is so full of promise, beauty, surprises and chances for greatness. Why waste that?
This week I had an email from a lovely reader based over in Toronto."Hi Claire,
I love reading your blog every week and I wish I could go on adventures like the ones you go on all the time, but I keep finding ways to talk myself out of things. I work Monday to Friday and when Friday comes up I get really excited for the weekend but come Monday the realisation hits me that I didn't actually do anything except sleep and do errands. Please help! Do you ever have this problem? How do you conquer it?
Lots of love, Marissa"
Marissas email tugged at my heart strings because this, I feel, is what many of my readers have to deal with week in and week out. There are these people doing all the things you wish you could, but "can't", wish you did but didn't. I can't fathom how easily people fall into a lull of such trivial excuses, and yet I see it all too often. The dreamers who will read magazines or watch films about things, forever writing lists of adventures they will one day take, but never do. The planners who keep letter box brochures or accept facebook events, only to never follow through.
If you haven't already, have a little read of my article The Power Of Sunday from earlier this year, or Sydney Weekender from back in 2011 for a little more insight into my journey, to the adventurer I am today. I wasn't always so swept up in exploring, learning and embracing new things. I have had my fair share of lazy days off, but I can't do that anymore. It seems like such a waste to me.
A great man once said that "life is what happens when you're making plans" and this I have found to be true through and through. That's why even when I'm saving for a big trip I won't say no to every invitation, and I will make plans but I won't ever set my expectations so high on one event to cause potential disappointment. Why put all your energy into one birthday, one party, one art showcase, one vacation, to miss out on getting excited about all the other "smaller" things? Every activity, every brunch, every sky dive, every road trip, every tour, should be appreciated as it should be, with just as much enthusiasm as the rest.
Oh, and if no one wants to join you? Why not go yourself? You're worth the time, the money and the planning. Go see that movie, attend that show, investigate that monument, explore that town. Who knows who you could meet or what you could see, and who will be watching from the sidelines, disappointed that they didn't say 'yes'. Taking myself to events on my own has been the easiest way to make new friends because I'm open to it, not distracted by conversation with others. Going to the theatre or cinema alone is super easy too, after all, you're hidden under darkness for most of it, so why the fear of looking like a 'loner'? I recently took myself to the latest Woody Allen film and enjoyed every single moment of it, probably moreso than if I had of taken a friend.
You may be wondering why grumpy miss Mops was my choice photo for this article, well she's a fantastic fur lady but sometimes she needs a little push to get out there and enjoy the weekend, as you can see by her smile here.
Don't discriminate, this weekend is just as beautiful as the next, and the last. Make plans, keep them, enjoy them for their work, document them, share them, remember them.
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