Day 1. Try Something New for 30 days

I just watched this TED talk Try Something New for 30 days - and I loved it. It’s short - maybe 5 minutes, so watch that, read this if you like and decide what you’re going to try for 30 days.

I’ve decided to start with 2 things.

I’m going to meditate every day for 30 days.

I’m going to write a blog post every day for 30 days.

Why meditation? I’ve tried on and off over 8 years to make meditation a habit but it never lasts more than a month or 2. But it appears time to try again. My brain’s been out of control for a few weeks. It’s a time of great transition in my life which is AMAZING and EXCITING and SCARY AS HELL! I’ve not had a proper income for the entire year. I’m on a new career path. I’ve had fallouts with people. I’ve met some deeply wonderful people that I know will be a part of my new journey. I’ve lost people and I’ve found people. And in this rollercoaster my brain is in a permanent brainstorming session trying to figure it all out. I get up to go to the bathroom at night and within 10 seconds the debating team has started along with a soundtrack and the PA in my head is reminding me of a whole bunch of things I mustn’t forget – (leg wax! Car service! Buy electricity!) There is no way I can get back to sleep. There is no longer any shadow of a doubt that I need to meditate if I am to stay sane. That monkey mind (as the Buddhists call it) needs to be trained. Meditation it is.

Blogging. Well I started blogging at the beginning of the year, but it sort of slipped by the wayside for a few months recently. Mostly because I like to write about what MOVES ME. But it so happened that the things that MOVED ME in September and October were too big and too personal to write about on a blog. Too much pain. Too many stories that involve other people and aren’t mine to share in a public forum. So I didn’t write at all. It feels like it’s time to write again.

I read over what I’ve written and suddenly think “oh, this is a bit boring, pointless and stupid!” – so I turn to my “friend” Havi, whose blog is so whacky that it won’t appeal to everyone, but some of it I find so super useful it’s ridiculous. And she makes me feel better. She makes 3 points:

1. Even if your stuff actually is boring, pointless and stupid it will help someone.
2. Your stuff doesn’t have to be helpful for everyone. It just needs to be helpful for the people who need it in that form at that moment.
3. Helpful and original are two totally unrelated things.

She goes on to explain that what you share "doesn’t have to be creative or inventive or original. The unique bit is the way that you phrase it or explain it or demonstrate it. Or the way they hear it. Your particular flavour or take on something will lead them to their moment of OH!

You will be the facilitator of the OH! And the people who need that OH will be saying hell yeah”

That’s why I love Havi! She has managed to capture what it is that I will be doing in my new career. I am a facilitator of the OH! More about that some other time.

Only 29 days to go. Yay!