A reminder

I'm not happy lately.
I'm struggling to be anything and have realised that I need to make a lot of changes to the way I think and act. I'm starting to think that maybe I am doing it all wrong.. I just want to wake up and be happy tomorrow. I need to learn to be happy by myself. Pretty angsty post! Oops.
나는 남자 없이 잘 살아.

Liebster Award

Woohoo! Ari from Vicenarian Stew has nominated me for a Liebster award; an award for up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers (in my case, much less than 200 followers). I'm pretty chuffed to have been nominated by Ari, whose blog I stumbled upon the other day. The Liebster award is a bit like a chain letter, but it seems like a great way to share some facts about yourself, spread the love to some other lovely bloggers, and kill some free time. Of course, there is no obligation to answer the questions if you're nominated. It's just a bit of fun and I've got nothing else to do, so I figured I'd play along. :D

The Happy Makers: Knitting

Now, this is a fairly new one. I used to be the kind of person that would pick up some kind of craft, and never see it through. But this time I'm actually enjoying knitting. Maybe because I have a pattern that I'm following, or maybe I've simply become less uncoordinated. Where knitting used to send me into a fit of rage, I now find it kind of calming. So knitting is number 2 in my Happy Makers series.

The last time I attempted knitting, I joined a website called Lion Brand Yarn, a free source of knitting lessons, knitting patterns, and tons of great crafty things. This is where I learned how to cast-on, do the knit and purl stitches, and bind off. When I get to something in a pattern that I'm not sure of, I head back to the learning centre and figure it out there.

I'm currently using a Lion Brand Yarn pattern to knit a neck tie for my boyfriend. I've messed up in a couple of places because I had never used seed stitch before, but after googling some tutorials on seed stitch to figure out where I was going wrong, I've finally gotten the hang of it. It's only 15cm long at the moment, but I'm getting quicker at knitting rows.




15cm down, only a whole lot more to go!

 

Oh also, I had a random knitted square of red wool that I'd been practicing knitting with... Learning how to increase/decrease, getting good at both the purl and knit stitches. Anyway, I didn't think I'd ever find a use for it. After I binded off I showed my big, dumb, red square to my sister, who grabbed it off me, attached a button to one side, and suggested I put it on the cat! I did, and well...

So proud of her new cape.

She looks pretty gorgeous if you ask me. I think I really have to start worrying when even my kitty cat wearing a kitty-sized cape doesn't make me happy.

Tick!

Posting this from mobile blogger, whilst on the bus to work. I'm on the Sydney Harbour Bridge! How exciting.

Quick post to say that I actually followed through with plans! I have that wonderful ache in my muscles that can only mean that I climbed hard last night. ^_^

Here are some photos from the climbing gym last night. It was so good spending time with my dad again. I've decided that I'll go back on Monday with him. And my sister might come too.

Yaaaaaaay!

The Happy Makers: Climbing

In line with my new motto (see my previous post), I want to figure out what things make me happy, what I want to do more of, and find some motivation to actually do them. So here is the first part of my new blog series, "The Happy Makers". Hopefully reading about my plans, and finding out a little more about me will be interesting for some of you. :)

I decided to start the series with something that has made me happy for an impressive number of years: Rock climbing. I started rock climbing with my sister and dad in 1999 (I was 8), and we all started entering competitions later that year. My sister competed in the Junior X-Games in Thailand... AND WON! She won the family a trip back to Thailand, where we did some more climbing! So climbing quickly became a thing that our family was known for. My mum even gave it a shot once (and never again).

Climbing was my gateway to exploring the world, meeting new people, and experiencing brand new things.





Me climbing in Arco, Italy (photo by Connor Macpherson)

  I went to my first international competition in 2005. I did terribly because A) it was around a thousand degrees in Beijing, and B) a muesli bar got attached to my shoe. I fell off my first climb almost instantly. I cried (of course) but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal. I went to the next 3 years of world youth championships in Austria, Ecuador, and Sydney, Australia, my home. I did better in those years, but was never at the same level as the people in Europe for whom climbing was their whole life.

I always loved climbing, but there were a lot of other things I wanted to do as well. Training for competitions was just climbing twice a week with my dad, and the one time that I did have a formal coach, it didn't work out so well. But I definitely miss climbing. I stopped competing during my final year of high school, which in retrospect, was a stupid idea. I didn't end up relying on my final marks to get into university, and have never gotten back into climbing since then. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.

SO! I'm going to go to the climbing centre with my dad every 2 weeks (he goes every week, but with everything I'm planning on doing, I think every fortnight is more realistic). It isn't far to travel after work, plus I don't actually do anything physical anymore so my bones/muscles will probably appreciate being used for more than just holding my body together. I got a message from my dad last night, and tomorrow night I will be climbing for the first time in far too long. :)

This post is brought to you by the words Introspection and Positivity

In year 11 English class, the theme was "Change". Everything I wrote was framed around how the characters dealt with/experienced "change". It was ultimately convoluted and rubbish. I received good marks because I understood what they wanted me to say; That change effects people in different ways, it is inevitable, it can be terrifying. It isn't until now that I fully appreciate how true these facts are.

Recently I've been experiencing just how much can change in your life with very little notice. I've been doing my best, but it really has been hard to cope. Not necessarily because any of the changes were bad (although my head certainly had a difficult time focussing on the positive aspects and not catastrophising everything), but because there is so much uncertainty. And uncertainty is something I'm not good at. I like knowing where I'm going to be in a year, what my life will look like in a month.

If anything, this has been good for me and I'm starting to realise that now. I don't need to be worrying about where I'll be/what I'll be doing in a year, or even a months time. So yes. From now on, I'm going to spend less time worrying about the future/things I can't control, and more time focussing on right now and doing things that make me happy. An excellent illustration (courtesy of Octopus Design) of my new mantra:

A friend of mine told me whilst I was stressing my mind off about who knows what, that I should "Hold it lightly". Whatever it is, hold it lightly. That's another good one that I like to remember, because I tend to dramatise or catastrophise things, stress and worry over minor issues, all the while focussing entirely on the negative aspects of a situation. And in the end, life is too short to stress over things that you can't control.

So. What makes me happy? That's the next thing I have to figure out. I have some good ideas of where to start though and will likely share them here. I'm excited to be feeling so positive about things, because I honestly feel like I'm opening my eyes for the first time and that I've been blindly stumbling around for the past month. No more feeling sad and sorry for myself. Much more positivity and fun. ♥