At the beginning of last year I knew I wasn’t happy but I didn't know why. I can just remember thinking to myself how monotonous it all was. Was this really it? It was just the same sh*t day in day out. There was no excitement, no adventure. I’m a strong believer that if you want something to change though, it’s down to you and you alone. Sitting around complaining or wallowing in self pity gets you nowhere. So at the beginning of 2015 I took some of my own medicine, sat down and looked at what areas of my life I wanted to change. I then set myself corresponding challenges each month. The ‘2015 Challenges’ looked something like this:
January 2015
Area: My Lovelife | Challenge: Go on a date a week
Whilst I genuinely was happy being single there was still a part of me that yearned to meet someone. Someone who would give me butterflies. All the guys I’d met were such generic City guys. However I knew I wasn’t going to find Prince Charming sat at home or 2am in a drunken bar so I decided to force myself on a date a week. Tinder obviously turned out to be my best friend. Unsurprisingly I didn't find a man but it did get me out of my comfort zone and made me realise how shallow today’s world is.
February 2015
Area: My Bank Account | Challenge: Take lunch into work everyday
Generation Y Londoners seem to be continually complaining about how expensive everything is - house prices, restaurants, travel. Yet simultaneously we splurge cash and don’t save, myself included. In February I banned myself from buying lunch out and took it into work everyday instead. I’d intended to buy clothes with the money saved but at the end of February I realised that others needed the money far more than I did so I donated it to the Food Bank instead. February not only made me realise how much cash I unconsciously splashed but also how much more you gain from giving to others, rather than to yourself.
March 2015
Area: Monotonous Life | Challenge: Make no plans
My diary used to be fully booked up weeks, if not months in advance. As wonderful as going for dinner with friends was it meant that I’d got myself into a rut of doing the same stuff with the same people. I just wanted more excitement. So in March I didn't allow myself to make any plans. It meant I could be spontaneous in what I did and who I saw. It made me realise how much I enjoy uncertainty and not knowing what's around the corner. Now I very rarely make any plans - I prefer to see what life chucks at me.
April 2015
Area: Feeling Exhausted 24/7 | Challenge: Have one night in a week
I was so busy all the time. I thought being busy 24/7 was a good thing. Dinner, client drinks, the gym. I felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water with things I needed to do, people I needed to see. Forcing myself to have one night in a week ‘allowed’ me to say no to people. It made me realise the importance of ‘me’ time and having time on your own.
May 2015
Area: Travel More | Challenge: Run the Uganda Marathon
I’ve always loved travel yet I'd been living my life in the same city behind a desk for 5 years. I look back and think total madness! Running the Uganda marathon taught me so much and it quite literally changed my life. Whilst I had challenges lined up for the rest of the year, I didn’t end up doing them after May as the marathon led me to leave London and move to Uganda.
The 2015 Challenges taught me that if you begin to explore your curiosity and push yourself out of your comfort zone, you never know what you'll discover or where life will take you. I often look at those who radically change direction and think ‘how / when did they decide to do that?’. From my own experience I’ve learnt that it isn’t one big leap - it’s usually an accumulation of small steps.
Looking back I’ve realised that the ‘2015 Challenges’ were the first in a number of small steps to get me to where I am today. Had I not started the 2015 Challenges, I wouldn’t have run the Uganda marathon. Had I not run the marathon I wouldn’t have met Tim or moved to Uganda. Had I not moved to Uganda I wouldn’t have run a charity or started a social enterprise… As Steve Jobs once said:
“You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."
So many people over the last year have said to me that they want a change but they don't know where to start or how to go about it. My advice would be to just start somewhere, no matter how small or trivial you think it may be. Small steps can lead to very big (and somewhat unexpected) changes and if I can do it anyone can. I find that the end of the year / the beginning of the next is a good time to reflect on what you want out of life and the direction you want to go in. So over Christmas that's exactly what I'm going to do and would love to hear if anyone is planning on doing the same. This is your life, make sure you live it.
Looking for a change but don’t know where to start? Why not write a 2017 Challenge List - we’d love to here what you have in mind…. comment, share or like on facebook, twitter and instagram or contact us info@above-water.co.uk
