VernetteOutLoud

Five Minute Friday: Begin

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“We write because we love words and the relief it is to just write them without worrying if they’re just right or not. – Lisa-Jo Baker

I haven’t linked up in what feels like ages with the this lovely bunch of writers. But since this is founder, Lisa-Jo’s last week hosting Five Minute Friday, I needed to join in to celebrate with her as she begins the next phase in your journey. I also look forward to continuing this lovely practice with Kate Motaung.

Click on the button to the right for more details on what this challenge is all about and how you can participate.

GO

“On this path, it is only the first step that counts.” – St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney

But that first step is sometimes the hardest one to accomplish.

Because that first step usually reveals who you are.

If you can get past the fear.

The struggle with past failures.

The disappointment.

The fact that sometimes its sooo much easier to delay the inevitable.

To be able to just go for, to begin again, despite all that went before, has to be the most courageous thing you can do for yourself.

“Living in fear is so last season, if you want to be happy and really live your dream you have to take a stand and just put yourself out there. You might fail, yes indeed – but, you might, you just might succeed too! Don’t you want to find out? Either way your life will never be the same… Can you handle it?”
– Jackson Kiddard

What’s the worse that can happen?

STOP

I found myself getting lost in a myriad of memories, hence the very short post. I didn’t want to cheat and add another five minutes, so this is all I managed for this week’s prompt. The quotes I had the general idea about and cleaned them up afterward.

Thank you to Lisa-Jo for creating this space for us to get in touch with the truth that is sometime hidden inside our hearts. This challenge reveals and brings up and out things that you had no idea you were even thinking about. As we move on to the next chapter of Five Minute Fridays with our new host, I look forward exploring the wonders of my heart with you all.

 

Today you’re getting a twofer. Every day in August I will be joining the very creative Susannah Conway and her lovely community, in posting a photo a day. It’s a community project that doesn’t really have any rules – who doesn’t like that? – I will post a photo a day on Instagram. If you’re interested in joining this community, head on over to Susannah’s website here.

August Break Collage

Glitter & Confetti Confessions

I’ve learnt that:

  •  Alone is not a four-letter word, neither is Single.
  • I am intense and that’s okay. I love hard. I am passionate about the things that move me. My family comes first – my blood and the family I chose, my Cohort Of Awesome. This is me.
  • I can eat Tiramisu for the rest of my life and never get tired and I really want someone to fund this challenge. Aioli…I’m looking at you.  
  • Sushi and wine is a thing. My thing.
  • Knowing my Love Language has helped me unpack some of the baggage I’ve been carrying around. My Love Language: Quality Time and Words of Affirmation…Translation: Friendship and Encouragement/Appreciation.
  • Bejeweled Blitz and Scrabble on FB are my guilty pleasures.
  • I am a hypocrite on Thursday nights…well that will resume from September 25th anyway.
  • It doesn’t matter whether Brazil ever manages to give another football team 10 goals in a World Cup Semi-final in the future…I will have to find a way explain to my future children about the debacle of 2014 – which will be talked about until Jesus comes back for His world – and why mummy still supports that side.
  • I am still capable of throwing tantrums…foot stomping included.
  • I’m a hardcore pluviophile and that’s okay.
  • Time doesn’t heal all things. In fact in some cases, time makes things worse. When it comes to conflict resolution time can cause a wound to fester. You have to work at resolution and reconciliation, not winning. If there is a winner…there has to be loser. And this life is too short for that kinda drama.
  • Grief has revealed who I really am.
  • Adulthood is a freaking trap and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I shoulda put my foot down in 6th Form and stayed there.
  • I will never have a thigh gap and that’s okay.
  • I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve…except for those I love. Then you have it forever.
  • I love long lists and I cannot lie.
  • Failure is always an option. I have made a shitload of bad decisions in love, in business…in life. And that’s okay. Because every day I open my eyes and find myself in the land of the living…I get to try again.
  • I am no longer a girl. I am fantastically and supremely woman. I honour this body and all its imperfect beauty. I am thankful for all the experiences that brought me to this very moment. I embrace all that I am because I know that I am the product of “a thousand loves.”
  • My power is in the present. This is all I have.
  • I cannot live without books. I cannot live without blogs (my favs at least). Reading, learning and growing is like oxygen to me.
  • You become who you surround yourself with. Choose well.
  • I don’t need to try something new every day to be fulfilled. Living in fear every single day is not how I want to live my life. Overcoming my fears…one at a time works for me. The little so-called mundane things I do everyday…makes for a great life if I do them well. Those in-between moments are just as poignant.
  • The more I love for the simplest of reasons, the more reasons there are to love: Myself, my family, rain, tiramisu…the colour red…everything.
  • I have this one life. This one chance to do things my way…not the cheapest way, the most popular way or the way someone else thinks I should.
  • My happiness is a full-time job and every day I commit to cultivating a heart full of joy, wonder, love and gratitude.
  • These are my core values: Contribution. Growth. Authenticity. Excitement. Loyalty. Family. Passion.
  • “No” is essential to my peace of mind. It is the foundation I build all my “Yeses” on.
  • I make time for that which is important to me, this goes for my goals, items on my Life List and my relationships. If I say something is important, but I’m not making time for it…something has to change.
  • And speaking of change…Nothing changes, if nothing changes. There is a popular quote that describes insanity as doing the same thing over and over expecting to get different results. If I want something different for myself, I have to change the way I do things.
  • I own my crazy. I own my reality…because the one I’m living is the one I chose.
  • Life is too short for holding on to grudges. “Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something.” I have big-girl Jedi panties for this specific reason. “Forgiveness is for those who are confident enough to stand on their own two feet and move on.”
  • Every single day I work on becoming the person I love. This one precious life I have is a living, breathing reflection of my dynamic self.
  • My glass is full. Be it wine, water, tea, or coffee. My glass is full. Not half full or half empty. Full. And it is up to me to ensure that it stays that way.
  • Miracles are only obvious in hindsight. And the fact that I’m still here, still writing, still loving, still growing it the most fantastic one of all.

 

Wordless Wednesday

View from the 42nd Floor

Sunrise from the 42nd Floor

Clink: It's my BIRTHDAY!

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I love birthdays. And I especially love my birthday!

I used to expound on how this day in history is waaay too special for just one day, often beginning the celebrations from the 15th of July and continuing until the 15th of August. Yes a whole month. And yes I obviously take myself waaay too seriously as well.

Yet since 2010, I dread making plans. My brother asked me on Sunday what I wanted to do today, and I replied that all I knew is that I wanted to attend Mass, because I don’t like planning anything – he said that’s what lonely people say.

I suppose there is some truth in that for lonely some people.

In my defense, the plan was to be in Tuscany, as I dreamed about here. When that didn’t work out, I tried to secure tickets to St. Marten…but that didn’t work out either. (See why I don’t like making a birthday plan?) But I still maintain my “No Working on my Birthday” rule.

So since I have the day to myself, no office, emails, queries or follow-ups and definitely no Facebook, here is my new plan, which is not a plan, because I really only want to be happy today…however it turns out. I will most likely be awake at midnight, so I will take a moment to say a prayer of thanksgiving. I plan to attend Mass first thing in the morning. Hopefully, that will mean being able to watch the sun rise as well. I want to eat some of my favourite things…so there will be breakfast at one of my favourite places. Then maybe a massage and lunch. There will most definitely be Tiramisu. After that…the plan is to keep it simple.

My birthday post 2010 is always tinged with sadness, mummy died eight days after and even though my sister and brother usually make time for me today and when we get together I feel like she is with us, it doesn’t make it easier. But still I smile, because I have 3? reasons to!

By the end of the day, I hope to have had a moment to reflect on last year and all I have to be grateful for now in this moment.

This is has been my anthem for the last 7 months and I suppose for a long time to come. I hope you listen and enjoy. Happy New Year to me. Life and blogging is ever-evolving. Here’s to a life of simplicity, contentment and Love.

Cheers to an awesome year ahead…cuz “ah come out to live meh life…I’m the happiest gyal alive”!

Quote of the Day

LIFE

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