Great things ahead for 2014

It's a whole fresh, new, shiny year tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it. 

I'm starting the year with my usual blasting of and boogie along to U2's epic anthem "New Year's Day". Then I'll heading off to a hot disco yoga class, followed by lunch - hopefully Malaysian food. I was going to do a movie but couldn't find any session times so I guess everything is closed. Weird. If this was NZ, everything would be open!

2014 will be the year of ME. I've spent 36.5 years busily taking care of and worrying about everyone else and it's high time I gave myself some airtime. I have the following stuff planned:

• Yoga retreat and holiday in Malaysia in April (Langkawi, KL and maybe a bit of Johor Bahru with a side trip to a couple of our gyms in Singapore). I won't be visiting during Ramadan, which will be interesting, as all the 24hr food courts will be 24hrs again. Makan, makan, makan (Malay for eat) - walk, walk, walk.

• Yoga Teacher Training in Bali in July/August, combined with a couple of days holiday either side. I'll do a couple of days in Bali either side with a couple of days in KL on the way home, since I'll be flying Air Asia.

• I'd like to get a little more ink. I have four tattoos that represent other people and it's time to get one or three just for me. 

• I will learn Malay, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian and French. Seven languages should be enough, including English. Malay can be used a bit in Indonesia so that will help with communicating in Bali. Oh yes, I need to learn more Sanskrit too. That makes it eight, not including my exceptional command of English, with a side of Tibetan. 

• I kinda think I'll actually get to ride the roller coasters at Berjaya Times Square in KL this time. And maybe, just maybe, i'll have time to visit Melaka. 

• I need to cross off at least five things on my 100 things list. A couple will be pretty easy, the rest not so much, but that's all good!

• I need more fun. I need to try new things and to stop being so boring and predictable. That will have to wait until I get back from Malaysia and Bali though.  The various required resources are a little stretched at present!

• I also intend to be kinder to myself, more grateful, happier, more content and more present. 

• I will change the lounge/office around to give myself a larger, dedicated yoga space for home practice. 

I am pleased to announce that I have just completed my final assessment workbook for my Life Coaching and Wellness Coaching certifications, so in two weeks' time I will get the fantastic news that I've pass and graduated. 

What do you have planned for 2014?

2013 - the best of the year that is almost over

2013 has certainly been an interesting year, full of twists and turns, upside downs, insides out, back to fronts and everything in between.

Rather than spend hours over-analysing the year in gory detail, then vomiting that information onto this blog post, I've decided to celebrate the good stuff that came with 2013.  Here goes.

• I had a fabulous adventure holiday all over Malaysia and Singapore, riding cable cars, observation wheels, roller coasters, planes, trains, buses and taxis.
• I re-discovered yoga, this time falling in love with it (and not in hate with it). 
• I celebrated the gym's first birthday in grand style and having given up so much sweat and so many tears in the process of surviving and thriving during the first year, I gave up some blood in the form of getting a tattoo to celebrate. 
• I got a tattoo to celebrate the life of my beloved Uncle Aldo, who passed away in 2002.
• I fit into size small pants at Lorna Jane and size 8 pants at Lululemon.
• I completed my Certification as an NLP Practitioner
• I will have completed and submitted my Certified Professional Coach, Certified LIfe Coach and Certified Wellness Coach coursework and exams for conferral of these qualifications by 7pm New Year's Eve.
• I discovered I love and adore Langkawi and think Kuching is cute. 
• I didn't fall in love with Penang, Johor needs another visit, Singapore did my head in, Ipoh also needs more exploration and I've finally made peace with and learnt to like KL for what it is - total overload cray cray on a satay skewer.
• I grew a spine and a set of lady balls and I'm not afraid to use them or stick up for myself.
• I stuck up for myself and triumphed in the process. 
• I decided that enough is enough with some people - I will not be pushed around or treated like dirt anymore, by anyone. 

I've spent most of today setting and writing my sankalpa (yogic resolutions, as they are officially known, but I prefer to call them intentions) for 2014.

I'll get to those on Wednesday night, but for now, let's just say that intentions bend and flow, while resolutions can break.

Virtual Vision Boards

I stumbled across a virtual vision board creation tool the other night when an email came through from my yoga studio. The director had made up a virtual vision board of all the cool stuff we'll be enjoying next year, from salt therapy to workshops and early morning classes. She'd then stuck the picture in the newsletter.

Aha! What a fab idea - much as I love the physical creation, I wanted something "quick and dirty" to pop up at home - aka I want it now, so I'm making a virtual board right this second! Instant gratification is a dangerous thing, but here's what I plan to work on in 2014:

Basically, 2014 will be the year that I slow down and take more time for myself, after the crazy whirlwind of 2013 has left the building. 

2013 has been a year of immense personal growth, professional growth and figuring out what I need from life, with a side of knowing very well now what I don't want from life. 

Needs and wants are different - I need peace and quiet, I want a happy life. I need to avoid drama and evil pond scum. I want to have nice, happy, positive people around me. I need to let go of all the baggage of 2013 and I want to grab 2014 and give it a giant hug.

Wants and needs aside, I have managed to keep Harold the happy houseplant alive and kicking for several weeks, along with the aloe vera and the green plant with spines and a red throat. I also bought another five succulents which are still alive too. The cat is still kicking after eight years and I've still not put back on a single kilo of the weight I've spent five years leaving behind.

Despite it's immense highs and lows, up and downs, inside outs and back to fronts, 2013 hasn't been too bad a year. I'll reflect a little further on New Year's Eve, but for now I'm happy just being me, right here, right now. 

My achilles heel

I've done something to my left heel. I don't really know what. I don't really know when. I don't even really know how. What I do know is that it bloody well hurts and it's annoying.

I went to the podiatrist, he told me to go to the physio. I went to the physio, he stuck dry needles in it and told me to avoid pretty much everything exercise-wise except yoga, spin bike with no climbing and  stretching. I am banned from almost everything else and only allowed to do absolutely strictly necessary amounts of walking.

Far out.

If I behave myself, it could be right by Christmas. It may take longer, it may need more treatments and it may need tests. But I'm just trying to stay off it, do what the physio says and be kinder to it.

I had a really down day today. I wanted to just go to sleep, wake up and find it was back to normal.

But injuries don't work like that. I'm finding that they are the body's way of telling you to slow the hell down, take time to photograph those roses you usually walk past, chill out and just be there!

I have a few things I need to go and do this weekend, but beyond that, I'm staying off my feet. Or on them, in yoga class. The more down dogs, the better. Even chair is supposed to be good for it.

Better go and get to yoga. Seems it really is the cure-all activity!