Public Declaration of Excellently Awesome Future Life Plans

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Adventure, be in the world., debt free, finances, goals, good health, Guru, Haiti, holidays, India, manifesto, Public Declaration of Excellently Awesome Future Life Plans, Relax, Retreat, see things, service work, study, teaching, touchstone, Travel, Universe, wander about, Writing, Yoga

Been meaning to write this one up for a while now.

Have you noticed how darn freakin’ hard it can be to keep your eyes on your goals when they’re not immediately in front of you? When there are no set dates or schedules? Even worse, when you’re working like a demon to get to even the first marker and more obstacles appear? Yeah, me too. That’s pretty much been 2011 for me.

It can be handy to write up your plans and have them all in one place. So this post is exactly that – a manifesto of my Excellently Awesome Future Life Plans.

All in public and centralised, and a touchstone for me to revisit whenever I forget what I’m working towards. Also, it’s a bit like putting an advance order in to the Universe.

So here it is…*

Short term

• Get a well-paying permanent or longer-term contract job (6-12 months) to keep me financially afloat.
• Be employed before, during and after the end of my current contract (end-November ’11).
• Take my birthday holiday trip in December. Have a blast, meet new people and RELAX.
• Work on reducing my physical possessions – sell stuff or give it away. Hold a garage sale?

Medium term

• Successfully wean myself off thyroid medication, with the assistance of kinesiology, diet, de-stressing, yoga and other exercise.
• Get a clean bill of health for my thyroid once I’m off medication.
• Write a complete first draft of the children’s book that’s banging around my brain. (It currently sends me messages like: WRITE ME, BIATCH).
• Find someone to illustrate my children’s book and collaborate on the work.
• Reverse my thyroid-induced weight gain. – HAPPENING!
• Pay off all of my debts completely.
• Start saving a whole bunch of money for my Big Overseas Adventure!
• Gain my English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching certificate.
• Keep reducing amount of physical possessions to those things that are necessary for functional and/or emotional/spiritual/sanity purposes.
• Get travel shots.

Longer term

• Find a publisher who wants to publish my book and pay me money for it!
• Once I’ve saved up a whole bunch of money for my Big Overseas Adventure, buy an around the world plane ticket. Get necessary visas and insurance. UPDATE 17/3/2013: For now, I’m not taking a ’round the world trip, just a two month sabbatical to India (currently in progress!)
• Quit my job. WOOP! WOOP!
• This one is sad. 😦 Find an excellent new home for Miss Cleo the cat. My beautiful girl. UPDATE 17/3/2013: Since I’m not going overseas indefinitely, I just have a house/cat sitter instead!
• Sell all possessions I don’t want to keep. Box up what’s left to put in storage.
• Make all necessary plans and farewells. Then GET ON PLANE!!
• First stop: India, for panca karma, studying at KYM and Satyananda Ashram. Wander about. See things. Be in the world.
• Second stop: find wherever my Guru is in the world and spend some time with him, still studying yoga (referring to the complete idea of yoga here – philosophy, meditation, asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha).
• Third stop: spend some time in retreat.
• Other stops: maybe visit friends in the UK and US. Do some volunteer work in Haiti. Wander about. See things. Be in the world.
• Maintain and increase my good health, thyroid or otherwise.

Even longer term…

Now I’m getting into very speculative territory. But here’s a lifestyle that could make me happy:

• Settle down somewhere in Asia. Maybe Thailand or somewhere nearby. Somewhere beautiful.
• Get a job teaching yoga, perhaps at some swanky retreat centre.
• Perhaps get another job teaching ESL.
• Write more children’s books and/or other types of books.
• Maybe also do some freelance writing for various websites.
• Combine all of the above with doing service work of some kind, preferably working with children or women at risk. People who need love.
• Maybe other things. Probably LOTS of other things. But the point is to be doing work that I love and that makes me happy.
• Maintain and increase my good health, thyroid or otherwise.
• Live a life I can’t even imagine right now. A really, really GREAT one.

Somewhere in this process…

I dare to dream that this future also includes personal, romantic love. As in a partner. It’s been a long time, but I think I’m finally ready to open my heart again. For someone who gets me, and vice versa. Someone who has a good heart and thrives on the kind of life I’ve described above, just as much as I do. Someone who isn’t afraid of change, growth and learning new things. Someone who knows who they are and isn’t afraid to challenge themselves or me. Who is passionate and knows how to make me laugh. Side note: someone who is preferably taller than my 5’10½” because I dig a tall guy.

So there we have it. My Public Declaration of Excellently Awesome Future Life Plans.

For a long time, I didn’t have any plans or dreams. I didn’t make any and couldn’t even imagine a time in my life where I’d be happy and doing what I wanted to be doing. Things are different now. I’m on my way, y’all!**

Of course, the Universe will have a say in how things pan out. But assuming the Universe agrees, this is what I’ll be doing.

~ Svasti

* This post will get updated as things change!

** Being on my way doesn’t mean I assume everything is gonna go off without a hitch or be problem-free. That’d be foolish-thinking. But I’m down with a somewhat bumpy journey, as long as I can still achieve my goals.

Best laid plans yadda yadda

Tags

40th birthday, Anywhere but here, Bali, debt free, getaway escape, huzzah, Ms Dudley-Do-Right, Sayonara Melbourne farewell tour, vaporised, warring factions

A wee urban double rainbow...

So here’s the latest.

By December, I’ll have saved up the most money I’ve EVER saved in my entire life. This saving has of course been with a plan(s) in mind. Naturally.

Earlier this year I was hoping to attend a yoga retreat with fellow Kali Girrrrl Linda, in Bali. But that didn’t happen. Then, I thought I might make it to a retreat with my Guru mid-year. But my work situation isn’t stable enough for that – I’ve been working from one three month contract to the next since the beginning of March. Then there’s been my health situation which could also be described as unstable.

So this money has just been accumulating in my high interest bank account since then, and about a month or so back, I formed a new idea: to celebrate my 40^th birthday (in December) somewhere I hadn’t been before.

Shit yeah!! Eventually I settled on the idea of going back to Bali but seeing new parts of that beautiful Tantrik island. I’ve got a chronic a case of “anywhere but here” going on and for my birthday, I just wanna be somewhere else, y’know?

But.

My conscious is screaming at me. That grown-up, party-pooping, early to bed, eat the right foods, kiss-ass, sensible, logical, Ms Dudley-Do-Right part of my consciousness. Holy Shiva, sometimes I HATE that voice! Because as much as I want to treat myself for my birthday (since there sure aint anyone else around to do it), my lovely getaway escape idea is in conflict with other goals that are just as dear to my heart.

Like, paying off my debts so I can start saving to get outta town on a more permanent basis.

Crap-balls! Ms Dudley-Do-Right is… arghhh! She’s right!!

I haven’t really talked about it on my blog this year, but since formulating my Grand-Bold-Stupid-Reckless-Awesome-Totally-Kicking-Life-Plan, I’ve been diligently reducing my debts all year long. And despite my outrageous health care bills, I’m actually making headway.

Folks, can I hear a HUZZAH?!!

I put my budgeting success down to spending the bare minimum on clothes and unnecessary “things”, without completely being a miser.

But also, it’s because I cut up my second credit card (the one with the highest interest rate) and haven’t used it at all. The only transactions on that card have been credits and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I see my credit card statement.

That card and its remaining balance are due to be completely vaporised VERY SOON.

Here’s why: I’m yet to visit my accountant, but I know I’ll be getting some $$$ back from this year’s tax return. And those delightful tax return dollars will in all likelihood pay off that card completely.

Here’s the dilemma – all the money I’ve been saving for yoga retreats that didn’t happen (while making regular payments on both cards, mind you) is enough to pay off my other credit card. Now, I’m the first to admit that it’s not as flashy as a holiday, BUT being entirely debt free would be a pretty kick-ass gift to myself for my birthday, right?

And yet, the less grown up kidult within is pouting about this strategy. Because I really, REALLY wanna be somewhere else for my birthday and I haven’t had a proper holiday in forever. Plus, all of my health problems this year have made 2011 kinda sucky…

Of course, another hitch with the holiday idea is that my current contract finishes at the end of November and right now I don’t know if it’ll be extended into the New Year. I continue to look for a more permanent role or longer term contract but so far, no luck (the universe it seems, won’t let me take jobs that are too soul-sucking anymore!). And even if I do have a job, those two weeks I want to be away for would be leave without pay. Meaning I’d have more $$ to cover.

But I think I’ve come up with a workable compromise that might just appease the warring factions of my mind. A shorter trip – five days, which includes two weekend days so I’d only be away from my job (assuming I have one then) for three days. Possibly I can even still go to Bali because the flights are cheap! Or maybe somewhere in Australia I haven’t been before. Hmmm…

I need to investigate.

Essentially, this compromise means I won’t blow all of my funds on a holiday, and I can put a goodly portion towards my debt-free status.

Which means I’m one step closer to being out of this place.

Which could very well mean that 2012 is my Sayonara, Melbourne Farewell Tour.

Pretty much all factions of my mind kinda like that idea…

I’ll keep y’all informed when I know more. 😀

~ Svasti