24

I have never been a logical person. At the age of 5, I wanted to be a princess. This shortly changed to zookeeper at age 6, a professional horse or dragon rider at age 7 (still undecided) and actress at 8. A witch from age 10 to 13, thanks J.K. Rowling! I will always believe that magic is real. A lot of people would look at me funny when I tell them these things but what is the harm living a fantasy when you were young and had no responsibilities. I will continue to believe that a vivid imagination can take you a long way, especially as adults. Having wild and crazy dreams can turn into wild and crazy realities because there are so much more possibilities that can turn into realities as we get older. Unfortunately for most people, they forget how to dream.

Still secretly wishing I was a witch, at 14, I started taking my education more seriously and my aspirations changed to wanting to be a dentist, a writer and sometimes a doctor. To this day, I do not understand the education system. At 18, I was told I needed to decide what I wanted to be. How the hell are you supposed to choose? To be honest, I started thinking that I wanted to be a photographer and to this day I am still indecisive about pursuing it as a career. But apparently that is not a viable career choice in the first place as there is no market for it where I am living. I have never been afraid to dream but I was afraid to act.

I remember it was the night before the submission deadline for my university application. I still had no idea what to put down. I read through a few course outlines and decided that exercise physiology would be most interesting and applicable should my family or friends become sick and needed rehabilitating. It wasn’t a sure thing for me. I just liked the subjects it offered. At 24, I am working as a manager in the family business and for a physiotherapy gym as an accredited exercise physiologist. There are days that dragged on. Days where I found it difficult to get out of bed but when I get to work, I love every minute of it (well mostly).

Here is what I learnt after a few years of not figuring out what I wanted. It’s true what they say, it’s not about the destination but the journey. It’s okay to want to try it all. Nothing is impossible if you put in the hard work and the passion will rise when you stop looking for what is wrong with the situation and instead focus on what is fun and good about it. To stop wanting to do things and just do it. Be brave, because life provides and you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. Take risks because it’s never to late to change your mind and you can always turn around and do something else.

I have stopped thinking about viable career choices. I have a job and maybe in a few years time my job will change, I could retrain, change my mind a hundred times over, but for now, I want to continue being 1000 different personalities outside of the career-sphere. Someone who takes lots of photographs, someone who tries new things. Someone who surrounds herself with family and friends that wants to build you up instead of tear you down. Someone who appreciates every day and celebrate little victories. Someone who deal her own cards and deal them again if she does not like the outcome. Someone who is at times grammatically incorrect and make spelling mistakes because what is life without a little stupidity.

I recently met someone who inspired a new perspective in my life. At first I did not understand what she meant when she told me “you can always just go, leaving is easy”. At first, I thought of the classic running away from your problems but I guess you start to wisen up a bit at 24. I think what she meant was that you can choose what bothers you in life and what things are allowed to effect your life. You can always walk away from meaningless arguements, bad choices and people who makes you feel small. Only you can bully yourself into a corner. You do not need to plan your life out, you just need to live it. Make decisions as you go, take a little risk.  Just remember to be kind to yourself and the rest will follow.

I shall reattempt my 52 weeks project so follow me on Instagram for regular updates! This image is the first of many. I hope that everyone learns to celebrate and embrace life as I have this year! Ageing is scary but it’s just a number and yes there is the occassional back problems that comes with it, a gray hair or two but hell, I still feel like an 18 year old minus the hormonal stuff. Life is great!