Month: February 2016

Life is a Journey

by 9grace

One of the most common questions I am asked by people is “what do you want to do when you are older?”

This question always stumps me. I’ll often answer with something like “oh, I don’t really know” or “I’m interested in a lot of things”. But the truth is, how am I to know what I want to be when I grow up, if I don’t even know what I want to do now!

This is actually something that has been on my mind for a while now. You see, a few years ago, when I was in Year 7, I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I wanted to go away to John Curtin or Perth Modern or some amazing art school. I thought I wanted to pursue a career in the visual arts. I didn’t want to perform or dance, I didn’t like writing, I just wanted to be accepted into somewhere bigger!

Now, I’m not sure I want to leave… The other night, I was tossing up the good and bad of going away to a school in Perth. Turns out, there are more things here that I would miss than the new things and opportunities I would have in Perth. I would miss the beach. I would miss the quiet. I would miss the freedom. I would miss the safety to walk around town by myself. I would miss a lot of things.

Now, I’m not even sure if the visual arts are what I want to create a future from. The last two years of the Zest Fest have given me so many opportunities and have taught me so much. Now, I do want to perform, I like writing and journaling, I like dancing, I like being in a small school.

Recently, I’ve also discovered a lot of new things that I am really quite keen to have a go at. Things like slam poetry and puppeteering and photography. I have always loved the arts, and I think I am just starting to discover how diverse that area is. All of my new interests are somehow connected to or involve the arts, whether they be completely ordinary or extremely unusual.

I guess, the lesson I’ve learnt – and that I’m still learning, is that your interests change with time. I thought I was set, I thought I knew what I was interested in and what I wanted to do. But, I really don’t know at all.

Yesterday, I came across a quote by Fabienne Fredrickson.

Know what you want to doI have to disagree with what she is saying here. Just because I don’t know what I want, doesn’t mean I haven’t already succeeded at life.

I don’t really care that I don’t know what I want to do at the moment. But I don’t see that as a failure.

I am happy with where I am right now. I am content with the way things are at school and home. I love where I live. I love that I have the opportunity to try as many new things as I want until I reach my heart’s desire and finally find out exactly what I want to do. I don’t know what I want, but I am, happy, and I’m enjoying life! That…that is what I call a success.

This morning, I came across another quote, this time by Ralph Waldo Emerson. I thought that was beautiful!

Maybe you do have a destination, or a goal that your heart is set to achieve, and that is excellent! Maybe you don’t know what you want to do right this second. It doesn’t matter!

Life is a journey. It’s something that needs exploring. It should take you places that you never thought you would go! Show you things you never thought you would see and give you opportunities you never thought you would experience.

Well, those are my thoughts on “life choices”. Let me know yours!

Yours faithfully

Grace.

 

 

 

 

Crazy Mind Tangents

by 9grace

You know those nights where you toss and turn and you just…can’t…get…to sleep! Then you start to go over all the things that have happened to you recently. Like how you totally could have won that card game if you weren’t so soft on the other players, or how you have that test first thing tomorrow morning, or “oh no! I forgot to do that art essay that I was supposed to do 2 days ago!!”

Yeah, I do that, and the next thing you know it’s…Oh My Gosh its 11:59 already!

So then, you try to tell yourself to go to sleep.

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CartoonChurch.com

But that doesn’t work, because you just end up spiralling into another tangent about something completely crazy!

I also do that. The other night my mind went off onto one of its mind tangents, I came up with the most insane notions.

Like, what if the whole world was the same temperature all the time. I mean, 25 degrees everywhere, all day, every day, forever!

For one, every continent would have the same climate. So, that would also mean that every continent has same flora and fauna, because the climate wouldn’t be right for anything else to survive! I mean, I think, if the plants and animals didn’t go through some rapid adaption, then we would literally lose at least 50% of them all because they wouldn’t have the right conditions to survive! There would be no polar ice-caps, no snow, no ice, no deserts, no tropical rainforests, everything would just be the same! Same animals, same plants! North America, same, Australia, same, Europe, exactly the same!

And then, what if you wanted to travel somewhere? The only reason you would really travel would be for work or lifestyle, or to see some famous building or visit a relative. Never for an adventure or an amazing nature journey! Never to see that wondrous animal in its natural habitat because you can see it in your own country. Can you imagine? “Oh hey I wonder what they have in that country, oh that’s right! Exactly the same as we have!”

Also, what would happen to the wind and sea breezes. They affect the temperature, right! But, winds are only caused by the change in air temperature, and the constant movement of warm and cold air. So, if there was no temperature change, then there wouldn’t be any wind, so there would be no temperature change!!

I went on like this for… I don’t know how long, but it was very late by the time I actually fell asleep.

So, that was my crazy mind tangent! This was actually really hard to write because I wasn’t sure which things to include, because you know when you’re thinking about something and your mindisjustgoingsofast that you trip over your own thoughts and you’re not really sure where to begin! I do that too.

Hopefully I am not the only one that does this…let me know in the comments!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed!

Yours faithfully,

Grace

 

 

 

Beautiful Moments

by 9grace

Isn’t it amazing the way an idea can come to us! Sometimes, it will hit you like a tonne of bricks, and make you gasp from the sudden spurt of inspiration. Other times, an idea will start small, and develop with time. Like a seed growing into a majestic, magnificent tree!

That’s the way my idea came to me. Like a seed, and it grew. The task at hand was to do a creative writing piece. The prompt; a short video of soft waves, lapping the shore at sunset.

It made me think of a picture I took the other day, whilst going for a stroll along the beach. Short and sweet, here is the story I came up with.

Beautiful Moments

I sit on the sand, with my feet extended, letting the waves roll up the beach and lap at my toes. This is my favourite thing to do. Just to sit, with my hands buried in the sand. With my eyes closed, listening to the waves. It calms me.

The ocean is an amazing place. Powerful and dangerous, yet so beautiful and serene. There is so much life there. Yet, all that life, it can all be taken away so easily. Just as if someone has flicked a switch. The once gentle, rolling ocean can change, and develop a savage, angry, destructive nature.

The tide is coming in, I can feel the waves reaching higher and higher up my calves. I shuffle back again, now the waves are only just reaching my ankles. God knows how long I have been sitting here. 20 minutes? 40 minutes? An hour? The sun is lower now. In half an hour it will be completely gone. I stretch my legs and stand up, I have to start heading back.

I walk slowly along the water’s edge, watching the waves lap the shore. I ponder as I walk.

There is so much we don’t know about the sea. So many great depths we haven’t explored. So much life, beautiful life we have yet to discover. But, do we really need to. We have already destroyed the land. Influenced with all our houses and suburbia. What would happen to the ocean then, if we went and explored, revealing all its secrets? Would we learn from our mistakes? Or would we do the same as we did with the land, destroying all of its natural beauty. Altering its landscapes to our own, selfish needs.

I exit my trance, and look up. I’ve walked too far. The sun, balances on the water, glowing golden against the deep saphire of the ocean. I become caught in the moment, fixated at the wonderous view. I should keep walking, I’ll be late otherwise. But I don’t. I stop and savour the moment. I see this every day, yet the view never fails to amaze me.

When the sun is almost gone, and the light is fading, I make my way back. Sad to leave, but content nonetheless. Beautiful. That’s the only word I can use to describe those few moments. Absolutely, naturally, and utterly beautiful.

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Kalbarri Sunset – A truly beautiful moment.

I find the beach is a beautiful place to go to and just…be. To wander, swim, or sit and watch the sunset. To ponder ideas and contemplate life, or to let go of all your thoughts, emotions, troubles, and to just Zen.  There is something truly breathtaking about the beach that never fails to leave me awestruck. Whether it be the way the waves catch the light of the setting sun or how the current makes patterns in the water. Whatever it be, there is hardly a time when I leave the beach without feeling very, very content.

So, there you have it. My very first blog post! I hope you all enjoyed.

Yours faithfully,

Grace