One Year, Twenty Wishes

Being a newbie to the blogging world, but not a newbie to reading a few blogs I was excited to discover a project that seems like a perfect way to start my blog. It's called One Year, Twenty Wishes which I first discovered from checking out some entries over at Brownie Diaries. (If you haven't already, go check out her blog. It's amazing! She writes about her travels and her life, and just generally awesome stuff.)

The project is hosted and was started by the girls over at Truly Lovely. It's pretty straight forward, you make a list of 20 things you want to do over the next year. It doesn't have to be on the bloggersphere, you can write it down on a piece of paper and keep it private or share it with everyone. A new blog and a new start makes way for some new things to look forward to, new friends to make and new things to discover. I think this is the PERFECT way to help me with that! So, without further ado, here's my list:

1. Keep updating this blog.
2. Hit 50 or more blog followers.
3. Start and stick to a new course, one that I actually want to do.
4. Bake and Decorate a really fancy cake. And then eat it.
5. See Taylor Swift in concert again.
6. Set up my Etsy site properly and sell my first product.
7. Craft and sew more.
8. Find a new book to sink my teeth into.
9. Make a scrapbook!
10. Make a proper dinner, from scratch.
11. Make friends on the bloggersphere.
12. Get my first manicure and pedicure!
13. Pass my A Levels. Even if I pass with an E, at least I passed.
14. Read the Harry Potter series again.
15. Get my very first tattoo.
16. Bake more homemade bread, that stuff is good!
17. Celebrate turning 20 without crying my eyes out.
18. Go on holiday. Whether it be London, or Dorset or Spain. Just, go on a holiday.
19. Learn to ride, and get , a pink Vespa style scooter.
20. Complete this list!

I hope some of you join me in doing this project, I know it's going to be so fun and completely worth it. I think we sometimes take the little things for granted, so this is a perfect way of reminding ourselves to stop doing what we have to do, and start doing what we want to do every once in a while. We should never take life so seriously that we forget to play.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

I'm the kind of person who reads an inspiring quote, and immediately wants to change their life but doesn't know how or when. Do I start tomorrow? Today? I always talk myself out of doing it, making myself believe that I could never do it; that, that isn't who I am. After all, I have no life changing accomplishments, I haven't changed the world; I'm just another face in society. That's when I stumbled upon a quote;

“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the one’s you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour  Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

It made me think about what I do want to do, and that's when I got my answer. I have no damned clue. At school, I was made to believe that the only way to be successful is to go to sixth form/ college and to do my A Levels; that being in a classroom is what will make you successful. That knowledge and intelligence is everything.

But that's when I wondered something entirely different, what is intelligence?

If I fail my exams, does that make me unintelligent? Surely there cannot be just one type of intelligence? Doing some digging I found that there is in fact, a minimum of 9.

1. Nature smart
2. Musical Smart
3. Number/Reasoning smart
4. Existential smart
5. People smart
6. Body smart
7. Word smart
8. Self smart
9. Picture smart

So why then, are we being told from such an early age that to be 'smart' we must be able to achieve the highest grades? Can someone with an inquisitive mind not be as equally smart as someone who can do lightening quick mental arithmetic?

After all, without the people who wonder 'why' and 'how', we wouldn't have the 'smart' people who have the knowledge of such information.

This is my blog. My blog about my life from here on in, after making mistakes that have cost me years I'm determined to find my place and my true calling. I've quit and restarted college and different subjects and courses more times than I care to think about; each time finding that it isn't me. Each time coming to realise a fear that I've always had, a fear that I've always tried to overcome and prove wrong.

I'm intimidated by the fear of being average.

I'm hoping and praying that there are people out there who are in the same beautiful and tragic pea green boat as me, people who made a mistake or didn't try as hard as they should have done. If there is, then I urge you, stick with me. At 19 you expect that like the majority of my peers I am in my first year of Uni, but you would be wrong to assume such a thing.

This is me taking responsibility. This is me taking the reins, and not letting go. This is me, taking control of my life.