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.

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Raven or crow?

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Adventure, Crow, Cynicism, Demons, Fates, Humanity, Interviews, Job hunting, Mythology, Negativity, Norse, Odin, Raven, Unemployed

Now for a practical application of the Navaratri post I’ve just added – I think yesterday was something of a turning point for me.

I’ve just finished reading a rather long but beautiful post by Miss Sensuality. I resonate with her words and find they’re somewhat related to this post.

As you may have read in previous posts, I’ve been feeling pretty sorry for myself that my grand adventure hasn’t quite worked out the way I wanted it to – yet.

I took a gamble, I went with my gut – and as my mother would say – I threw away a perfectly good job. Yup. Up and left it. Because I’d been there too long. Because the politics and BS were getting to me. Because my boss was being pig-headed and wouldn’t give me the minimum leave I needed to attend my retreat (he offered two weeks instead of three – I resigned and took five weeks!)

Little did I know the economy was set for a tailspin, that when I returned, jobs wouldn’t be as plentiful in my industry as they were when I left. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that almost seven weeks later I’d still be looking for a job. I can’t even get a temp job at the moment doing crappy admin work!!

Like Miss Sensuality, today I saw all these people with places to go, jobs to get back to, moving with confidence of their place in the world. I realised I used to be one of them. And I realised that I am not my job, I am not my money (which I’m rapidly running out of), I’m not my clothes, I’m not status, I’m not where I live. I’m still here and functioning without those things, without any security or income. And I am who I am. I am no different from anyone else. There is freedom in that knowledge.

On the back of these thoughts I had two interviews. One for a job I am not that interested in. The guy interviewing me spoke in sound bites and buzz words, and kept telling me what a “great opportunity” it was to join his team. He spouted statements that wouldn’t seem out of place on “The Office“. Apparently I’d be “locked into two years in the role” but after that I could “go anywhere in the company” (a very large corporate). Now here was someone clearly self-identifying with his job and his company as part of what makes him secure and comfortable.

As for me, I’m not “locked in” to anything. Even if I did take this “great opportunity” if it were offered to me…

The second interview was with a recruitment agent. Now, I’ve spoken to almost every half decent recruiter in Melbourne in the last seven weeks, so I thought I knew how they all operated. How wrong I was! This lady organised to meet me at the Sofitel in Melbourne in a ritzy bar on the 35^th floor. She presumes we’re having a drink, where I’d presumed we were having tea or coffee. Red wine for me and champagne for her.

The Atrium bar at the Sofitel, Melbourne

An interview that was booked for an hour stretched into two as we chatted like a couple of old friends. She gave me insights into the world of recruitment not offered to me by any of the others. We talked about her kids, our cats, the benefits of acupuncture. She treated me like a person instead of another faceless “candidate” and it was a breath of fresh air in the odd world of job hunting and interviewing.

Who knows what will come of that meeting if anything, but I’ve shrugged off some of my cynicism and negativity, thankfully!

Then on my way home (train, then bus) I’m on that last ten minute walk. I spot a large black bird – a crow or raven – sitting in a small bush next to someone’s letterbox. It doesn’t move as I approach. It eyeballs me, opening and closing its beak frequently. I think it might be injured as it isn’t flying away although I’m very close.

The beautiful bird I encountered on my way home!

I don’t want to leave it in case it is injured. It seems to be asking for help.

Just then a car turns into the driveway and a woman gets out. She comes over and inspects it with me, and agrees there’s a chance it might be injured. Now there are two of us standing there and the bird doesn’t appear distressed, staying right where it is.

Luckily, the woman’s husband works for the council and will know who to call to collect the bird. She says she’ll give it half an hour and if its still there, they’ll ring someone. I’m satisfied with that and walk home.

This experience too, was heart warming and human. A complete stranger, she could have thought I was crazy for caring about this bird, but instead she offered to help me.

In Norse mythology both ravens and crows have a prominent role. As they do in other cultures too. So call it superstition if you like, but seeing this beautiful black crow/raven possibly in need of help was an omen for me. The Norse associate them with Odin and the Fates – death/change and wisdom. At the end of a day where I had a shift in my current world view, this was not strange or disconnected to what was going on. Not as far as I was concerned anyway.

I am no different from any other person, but I’m also no different from this bird. We’re all part of this universe, and in the end that makes us as one.

As I meditate on the slaying of my “demons”, I’m grateful for the odd experiences that have made up my day.

I’ve managed to grab a few insights, see “reality” a bit more clearly and connect with other human beings who have shown more warmth in those short encounters than I’ve experienced from the various recruiters and other people I’ve met on my job search thus far.

And then there’s my crow or raven. I don’t care which it is, but I’m glad it was there.

~Svasti