Some of you may be familiar with TED Talks, TED is an
organisation introduced tome by the wonderful Jacky Boy (* see below), TEDs main aim is to
spread ideas worth spreading. On their webpage they offer “riveting talks by
remarkable people, free to the world.” For those of you who aren’t familiar
with the awesomeness of all things TED you should be! I’ve included links to
some great talks to get you started, including; a man from Birmingham who’s art
is so small his paintbrush is the hair from a flies back, a synesthesiac
mathemagician who turns numbers into cookies and those guys off the Youtube
video on the train with that crazy French woman joining in. (You’ll know what I
mean!) About a year ago I watched Matt
Cutts, the Director of the organization giving a speech entitled: Try something
new for 30 days. (Link below also)
Mr Cutts was stuck in a self proclaimed ‘rut’ and decided to
take the simple advice of a standup comedian and think of something he had always wanted to do…. And then do it. Perfectly simple no?
In theory yes but how
many of us have little (or large) ambitions that niggle at us almost daily yet never come
to fruition. Mainly because there’s always a good reason not to, like feeding the dog
or taping Eastenders. It turns out the 30 days is just the RIGHT amount of time
to add a new habit or subtract a habit. During the speech Matt convincingly
takes you on a journey from ‘desk dwelling computer nerd’ to hiking mount Kilamanjaro.
Whilst watching this 3 minute video I felt inspired, energetic
and motivated. I loved the concept, it was so simple if you want to do
something… do it! It was pure genius, everything that is lacking in our lives
is absent because we are yet to put it there and ‘if you really want something
badly enough you can do anything for 30 days.' After all it’s just 30 days, it’s
not for life it’s a personal challenge with achievable goals. I felt a surge of
potential course through me, for the first time in a long time I reveled in the
possibilities of me. I could do anything I set my mind to. My mind raced with
infinite ideas such as learning Spanish, learning French, learning French and
Spanish, read Arabic, master the hula hoop, learn to flair, write a novel,
dance, juggle, contact juggle, fire hoop, fire staff, fir poi, study online,
gardening, pottering, mug painting and oh the list seemed unending and yet at
my finger tips ready for me to stretch them out and just take whatever life skills
I’d secretly fantasized about possessing but never acted upon. And then
slowly month by month become some form of super fit, super flexible circus
trick yielding, fire breathing, WI destroying craft champion, with a firm
knowledge of calculus, quantum physics and salsa. I shut down the laptop alive
with possibilities of the entire cosmos pulsating through my veins and
proceeded then and there to do... absolute bollocks all.
You see I was living on a boat at the time and I wanted to
mull over my new found superpowers with a cup of tea, having electrical
problems so the kettle killed everything. Anyone who’s ever been in the van on
festival sites, or had penchant for Shell Island in the summer or subscribed to
‘Caravan and Camping’ knows the treachery of the magnificent surge of petty electric
kettle. The principle on the boat is the same, so one had to microwave the cup
of water, and whilst watching the little yellow and orange cracked handle turn
clumsily though the darkened greasy window, I soon forgot all about me and my
superhuman brain power and ability to make soufflé every day for 30 days without
ever seeing the recipe and became transfixed on how bloody hard life was without
a kettle. And how much I HAD to do and how little I wanted to do, and how tea
wasn’t really what I wanted and how long it would be before people who worked
office hours would stop this ludicrous behavior of 9 till sodding 5 and go
halfs on a few litres of Crumptons with me. Aspirations farted into the wind.
It is was over a year later for reasons irrelevant to the
this tale I decided bugger it, it’s only 30 days. Hardly the poetic pep rally I’d
given myself on the boat many many moons ago. But hey, I’m living in a flat
with my own name on the deeds, paying monthly rent, it does not float or have
wheels and I work Monday to Friday, 7-5 how did this happened I’m not sure. But
I now have the novelty of evenings to myself. So after 4 days in bed sick, one
does tend to get philosophical in the throngs of a fever in a Thai bedsit I
decide to pick up a hula hoop and head to pool, to exercise for 1 hour every
day! By the time I get to the pool I decide it hot outside and best not run
before you can walk, so on day one I decided on 15 minutes swimming and 15 hoop
in the reverse order I decide to document my feelings after the first 5 days.
And so my challenge begins…
*whom I was also going to accredit as my muse for studying philosophy, due his new happy go lucky outlook on life and swimming, I though if Jack can be happy clappy I can study philosophy lets have a switch, (Jack studied philosophy in uni and often used it to quash my love of bubbles and rainbows and the greater good) however I've just read his comment about Tiny superheros and have decided he's a big fat floating poo!
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