Ten Years Makes a Decade...Wow

It's 7pm on New Years Eve. Katie and my dad are learning about his new Mac laptop and I'm sitting on his old laptop reading random comments on Facebook, doing a little reading about the full moon/blue moon, eclipse and wondering what the rarity of that means at this point in time; the end of a decade, in the midst of what some deem a crisis, and during some of the most energetically dynamic times we have seen.

I'm also putting into perspective the New Year as a new decade, which caused me to reflect on what the last ten years of my life have been like. When I did that I really realized how much I've accomplished! The start of the decade, the year 2000, Y2K, was celebrated in my basement when I was in Grade 12. I was 'in love' :), there was drinks and food and fun, there were people ringing in the New Year by bringing up their supper on my floor and in the bathroom, relationships began and others ended shortly after, we watched the replays of the entire world celebrating, Will Smith was singing 'Willenium' and we were partying like it was 1999 for Prince. It was the start of a wild ride. So that's how the year 2000 started it ended pretty much the same way, just at someone else's house with new music and all my friends.

2001...I graduated from highschool, was out of love and into university away from home! I made new and amazing friends, discovered new and amazing ways to get drunk and began what were some of my craziest years yet. I dropped out of French and had to scrape my way through first year Chem, Bio and Physics making a deal with myself that if I passed my x-mas exams I would stick out the rest of the school year. I passed. I celebrated my 19th birthday downtown Windsor with my girlfriends and kissed a guy I had been crushing on since Grade 6 :) lol

2002...It's wierd to think in terms of calendar years when for so long I thought in terms of school years. Daytona beach, boys and moving into my first house with my girlfriends. Deciding to take a Physical Education course in place of my dropped French led me to switching my major to Kinesiology. I passed Chem, Bio and Physics, just barely and was happy to start the next school year in a new program with courses I was excited to take. I got a job for the fall and quit by Christmas.

2003...haha for some reason, this year seems to be a blur. School was now under control and I was rockin my classes. I was also rockin the bar scene. Stayed at school for the summer and had a blast between concerts and cottage visits. For whatever reason, 2003 (the school year) was the start of a bit of a destructive and as Katie puts it, 'reckless' cycle involving drinking and guys. I had a blast during this year and looking back I can see where Katie came from. I've grown a lot and I had to go through a lot to get to that realization.

2004...was a good year. I finshed up my third year, stayed the summer again and moved into a smaller house for my final year at school. Had my heart broken and found new love. I also began to think about what I wanted to do after graduation. Physiotherapy was the only option I saw fitting, yet I wasn't quite sold on the idea. My family went on what was our first and probably last vacation together on a Carribean Cruise and I celebrated my 22nd birthday somewhere in the waters around Jamaica.

2005...graduated from university and moved back home. Spent the summer at my boyfriend's house lounging by the pool and savouring the last bit of my OSAP loan until I found a job. It was the summer of concerts! Come fall I had found a job in a physiotherapy clinic as a kinesiologist and I began helping people heal themselves one leg lift and hamstring stretch at a time.

2006...I applied to Teachers College and got accepted at every school I applied to. U of Toronto being my number one choice. On a whim I also applied to Australia and in the end that was where I decided to go. The majority of my year revolved around saving money and planning all my adventures!

2007...I made it to Australia on super bowl weekend and started school the following week. I don't even know how to describe this year because there is just so many great things I did, I learned and also wished could have been different. Only now do I see the things I would have liked to happen differently and yet they were perfect as I am here now writing this. 2007 was a year of big realizations for me. From deja vu on an almost daily basis, to feeling such a deep connection to my profs and the students I was teaching, I was in the right place. My second placement was in an inner city school in South Auckland New Zealand. I was scared shitless and had my greatest growth of the year, and maybe my life, in those 6 weeks spent there. It was one afternoon when I had an A-HA moment and knew I was meant to do greater things that I had ever thought of.

2008...I was dealing with culture shock of coming back to Leamington and total withdrawal from the Sunny Coast of Australia. I wanted one thing, my boyfriend wanted another and I realized that if I didn't do things that made me happy or wasn't spending time with people that made me happy, I needed to make some changes. I ended my three year relationship and began what some call my 'self-discovery process'. I had a visa to go back and work in NZ as a teacher and then life threw me on a totally different course. This was the year Peak Potentials entered my life. I became a Wizard, a Warrior and an Ultimate Leader, I mastered my mind, got a millionaire mind, became a trainer, got extreme health and learned about all my relations. I met some of the most amazing people I still call friends and watched my friend since kindergarten walk down the aisle.

2009...I began the year finding my life's direction and embarked on a seven month road trip with Katie. From Colorado to Vancouver and back a few times we did everything from rock climbing and rapelling to seeing people transform their own lives in the forest of Squamish and the valley of Sanger. This year really was mindblowing and to be honest, I think I'm still processing it all. I can't quite seem to wrap my brain around the impossibilities that we made possible for ourselves.

And now here I am, heading into a new decade after such a wild ride in this last one. What will this next decade bring? What other great accomplishments will I undertake and achieve? What other great relationships will I form and what other ones will fall away?

I really hadn't taken stock of ALL that has happened in the last 10 years until now. I realized how much I can do, how much I have done and how great it has all turned out. Wow, what a life!

Here's to all I have learned, all I have accomplished and to a future decade of even more greatness than I can fathom. And for you, all the greatness the world has to offer!

Happy New Year!

When you find you...

Over the last week or so I've been really looking at where I've come since I began this 'journey' of sorts in February of 2008. The journey began with the end of a three year relationship (a rather abrupt ending by me and one I have recently admitted to myself I've been avoiding completing). I wanted and had an overwhelming need to "find myself". Those words are both full of meaning and meaningless for me at the same time. I discovered many things about myself that others had always seen, I began to own my own power, which I used to percieve as being pushy and bossy, I learned to see the connectedness we all share and the unconditional love that is possible between all human beings, which I used to confuse as attraction and jealousy.

Although it certainly has been a journey in finding myself with many meaningful experiences and relationship, I have realized I've been here all along, I was just looking a different direction and thinking very different things. After learning my Heart Virtues - I am committed to truth and understanding! - this summer I had a pretty big 'a-ha' moment. In all those times I was frustrated and felt lost and angered growing up it was because I was (or others were) violating my Heart Virtue of truth; I was ignoring my truth, what my heart was telling me and in order for me to understand that, I needed to embark on this journey. Now that I have an understanding of 'who I am' I will do everything I can to live according to my truths. Also when something sends that rage into my being or the elation of joy and love I now understand or seek to understand why.

My understanding of truth of myself and in others is that we are all limitless beings, capable of anything we put our mind and heart to. When people are lying or when people know they can have and deserve better, settle for less or play small it used to really frustrate me until I understood that we are all on our own journey and we can only control the path that we take and love others and empower them to do the same for themselves.

So for any of you that I've pounded with questions, made bold or uncensored comments to or challenged your views, it's because I want to better understand who you are and where you are so I can honour your truth. I also hope that my questions pose a challenge and create curiousity within yourself to seek out the truth for you. It's who I am! And I've always been this way, questioning things since I was little. The impossible was always met with "Why not?" and still is. I always had an understanding that anything was possible, regardless of how many people tried to tell me different. I just felt it.

And so here I am today. The same being I was nearly two years ago with a vastly different understanding of the world, my world and me; a grasp of what it means to be me, of what I believe it means to be human and of what rings true for me right now. One thing I am certain of is that in two more years I will sit here and write again and every word will ring true, yet my understanding of everything will be vastly different and deeper based on all the lessons I will have learned between now and then. For those who thought their learning was over when they finished school...time to wake up...there are far more interesting things to discover within.