Have you Worn Your Superhero Costume Lately?

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

- Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

Do you have a picture or an idea of what or who you would like to become or be?  A goal perhaps of something or someone you strive to emulate?  Or perhaps it's not so much that you want to be someone.  Maybe it's a level of achievement you would like to attain or reach.

I liken the striving to donning on my superhero costume.  It is perhaps my alias...my secret identity...my alter ego. 

It's the ideal of the person you hope to become.  When you change into that costume, or you acquire a certain item that perhaps that person...that role...that achievement... would have, you become that person.  You imagine how you would feel...act...look in that costume or with that item.

Your actions from then are always moving toward achieving that end.  Some may call it 'faking it til you make it'.  And you're faking it because in reality, you aren't quite (well...maybe you're not even close) living up to those superhero expectations. 

Well I'm here to tell you it's okay if you're faking it, and you're not even close to making it.
The most important thing is...you've made a start and you're putting in the action and you're striving to better yourself...your circumstances...your outcomes. 

When you set yourself a seemingly formidable goal, it seems when starting out that you may never get there.  It seems so difficult and you wonder whether you're kidding yourself that you'll ever reach it.  Especially when you've begun the journey and it's harder than what you envisaged.  It seems that you may never be worthy or ready to pull on that superhero costume you bought and it hangs in the wardrobe beckoning you to put it on - even if only fleetingly.

But I encourage you...I dare you to put it on!   Because unless you do, how do you know what you require of yourself and how do you know what real stuff you're made of if you never put it on?

And in the striving, as you reach each step and climb higher and closer toward your goal, there will be one day when you realise you're wearing that costume and it fits like a glove and you wonder what all the fuss was about, because now it's just a part of you.

But in order to realise that day, you had to persevere feeling like you were faking it, and overcome the fear of what others thought of you.  And you know...people will always remember who you are right now, not who you were necessarily. 

And anyway, what does it matter how others see you right now?  Is it not more important how you would see yourself?  Because you know that with time...with right action...one day and the next, others will see you, how you would see yourself. 

And who knows...you may then become their real life hero, because you dared to dream... you dared to try...you dared to put on your super hero costume and you showed others what is possible.

Bringing Dreams into Reality...

“Your life is the sum result of all the choices you make, both consciously and unconsciously. If you can control the process of choosing, you can take control of all aspects of your life. You can find the freedom that comes from being in charge of yourself.”

- Robert F. Bennett

Thanks to Katherine for the inspiration for today's post, titled 'Life is the Sum of all of our Choices'.

I really love the quote above by Robert Bennett, but I think it lacks something obvious that Katherine alludes to in her post.  And that is...even though we makes choices consciously or unconsciously, it's when we exercise those choices, that it is when truly influence the outcome of lives. 

something of the feel of my dream home

If you don't know by now, you may have guessed I'm somewhat of a dreamer.  I have been for all my life.  My dreams and visions of what I want to create fuel my desire and my zest for life.  I only wish there was more time to do everything I would like in this life time.  There is so much to learn and so much to create still, in the way of experiences.

photo courtesy of 1000 Homes of Happiness

As I get older, life is becoming more about the experiential and less about materialistic pursuits.  It's about cramming in as much of life as possible, yet living it with a sense of balance, authenticity and gratitude.  I want to soak up every miniscule moment of the gift of life and part of that is sharing it with those we love.



creating and experiencing wonderfully enriching moments with my children and family are a part of my dreams of a life fulfilled

Yet, even though I've always been a big dreamer, I'm grateful for the gift of action. 

You see...it's all well and good to think about all the choices that are on offer.  But we can delude ourselves into thinking that just by pondering over and filling our head with all the available choices and talking about what we want to do, equates to getting things done.

Bodily aspirations - part of the motivation to exercise and make good nutritional choices on a consistent basis

It's when, after making good choices, we then exercise those choices, by putting them into action and seeing them come to fruition.  Only then, can our dreams become a reality.

So are you making good choices and exercising them...now?   Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now.  Because the choices you exercise today will determine whether your dreams become reality. 

And in finishing, I must share with you something integral in going for your dreams.  It's a great quote by Commando Steve on his FB page today.  You know when you've made good choices, by the person you've become along the way.

"The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it."

- John Ruskin



2011...Adventure Uncommon!

I stole the title of today's post from a website I happened upon called http://www.epicquest.com/. I was looking for photos for this blog, and found this site. Amazing photos and inspiration. I love this site, because it's all about the big picture stuff. It's all about the spirit of adventure.

Even though I'm not in a position to do any of this stuff, as I think I've it left it a little too late on alot of this adventure stuff, I think it's something I would have loved to have done when I was younger. Sometimes we discover a little too late what amazing things there are to do in this world.

I do have a friend, or probably moreso an acquaintence who is related to a good friend of mine. He happens to do alot of this sort of stuff, and is in Europe as we speak, hiking through mountains and snow. He has an amazing life, and he's engineered it that way. His forte is mountain biking.



To be honest, after three days of total debauchery of the food and exercise kind, I was feeling rather sluggish and slovenly.

Until this morning....

Then BAMMO! The adrenaline kicked in, and it was hallo motivation!

You see, I did a GoCycle class this morning at the gym. It was just the very kick in the butt I needed, and it was AWESOME! The instructor was pumped and he kicked butt...my butt actually.

Now you may or may not know that I'm not really a big fan of the 'cycle/RPM' class. But I have to tell you, after this morning's class, the feeling of pushing myself to the limit was kind of addictive. So I'm heading back tomorrow morning for a repeat dose of adrenaline. Even though I love training by myself and don't usually require the external motivation, it's times like these that group fitness classes come in handy, and it was the type of thing I needed to get me going.




Of course, it's not the same type of adrenaline rush you'd get jumping out of a plane; cycling through the Pyranees doing the Tour De France; or doing the Hawaiin Ironman Triathlon.

But you know, there's always going to be someone doing it better and bigger no matter who you are. It's important I think, that we can draw inspiration from different sources and realise that our own aspirations, regardless of how they compare to others, inherently are of no lesser value than another person's aspirations. As long as we're giving it our very best and enjoying the process, we shouldn't doubt our own abilities.

Sometimes we box ourselves in when in comes to the genre of sport or exercise that we do, and we fail to see what else is out there. We can become a little stale and wonder why we do what we do, and what the point of it all really is. Yes, we know it's to keep us fit and healthy, but that's not always going to keep us going day-in, day-out. We need to draw on other things to help us fuel our own motivation. Sometimes I think we need to step outside of our own little world and experience or even catch a glimpse of what adventure really is, and to see what people are doing and the things they're willing to do to push themselves to their own limits. It can help us view our lives with a fresh perspective.

And this morning I think I caught just a glimpse of something...adventure uncommon. Inside those four walls, for just a short time, it was me looking over those handle bars, traversing those spectacular mountains and valleys in Europe!

So drawing from what Hannah has posted about recently, today's post is more about stoking the inspirational fires coming into 2011. As we come nearer to the close of 2010, as everyone else is doing, I'll talk more about my goals for next year and reflecting upon the goals I set the year just gone. It's good to set new goals, but I think it's equally important to reflect upon the previous years' goals, look at what we achieved and didn't achieve, and what lessons we can learn.

See you on the other side!

My Idyllic Location

The above home is for sale, and it's in my favourite place...Mount Tamborine. I want to live there, but AW is not keen. Mainly because of the travel. I've always wanted to live there, and I intend to one day. For now, I'd be happy with a small cottage.

Lately though, I've been thinking about living in my idyllic location and about the home I want. It doesn't look exactly like this home for sale, but everything else I want is right there. I'd love more of a classic country cottage style home with big verandah's all round. And it has to be white!

Now that I have a young child, I'm finding that it's something I yearn for. I'd love Philomena to have a more carefree childhood and be able to run around outside freely. To get involved with, appreciate and come to love nature. She loves helping me in the garden. I'd love to have chooks...I'd love for her to have animals and pets...to play, and to have a childhood which is more connected with nature and people, and to experience a kind of life not found in the suburbs. I'd love to have a big vegetable patch, and a bigger herb garden. To cook and make everything from scratch and share all of this with Philomena. I'd love her to experience more of that sense of community and family. She does have that now to a smaller extent, because of my involvement as chairperson of our body corporate, and the fact that our complex is very community minded. We do alot of visiting and Philomena is such a social little girl. We also have close ties to family and close friends and visit them regularly.

I bought a couple of books the other day. One is called 'What's Happening to Our Girls'...Too Much Too Soon...How our kids are overstimulated, oversold and oversexed', by Maggie Hamilton, and the other is 'Adproofing Your Kids'...Raising critical thinkers in a media-saturated world', by Tania Andrusiak and Daniel Donahoo. Both books are Australian publications. They are well worth the reading, if you are concerned about how your children are growing up in this world and want to know how to address these issues.

It's such a minefield out there. As parents, we are up against so much and kids these days are growing up in a world so different from when we were kids. Reading these types of books really opens your eyes to things that are brimming below the surface, and in our busy self-asbsorbed lives, it's so easy to miss what's really going on out there.

My own personal observation is that people are so busy trying to give their children everything in the material sense, that they fail to realise that in doing so, they compromise giving their children what they really need...time. Not only are parents themselves busy, but so are their children. Children are so stressed out because they are doing what their parents are doing...rushing around and filling their days with 'stuff', with barely any time to talk to each other and connect. Not only are parents and children struggling to connect with each other, but children are struggling to connect with their own feelings.

I've also been reading Country Style magazine. I love this publication! Not only are there beautiful photos of country homes and gardens, but they publish stories of real people and families and their individual stories about how they came to live where they live. People of differing backgrounds. The magazine is rich in content, not just photographics and makes for interesting reading.

Anyway...I've been very busy getting my home ship-shape and busy in the garden. It's an early spring clean. I love gardening and have immersed myself in it over the past week. It's been an escape for me and very therapeutic.

Life has come to a critical point, where everything has been thrown together. It's times like these when fighting it is futile. Routine goes out the window, and you're having to deal with things on a daily basis.

Our 25 year high school reunion is next week, and even though I'm looking forward to it, it's been a long 18 months of planning and preparing. And I'm ready for it to be over, so I can get on with some type of normality. Of course, this is just part of the mix. I leave for Bandiana in a couple of weeks for my employment training and I'm away for 2 weeks. So AW has been away quite a bit, before I go. Philomena has become quite rebellious in the last couple of weeks, and things had got to a (boiling) point where it was time for me to put aside my own goals and schedule, and concentrate on her as well as stem the flow of other urgent demands.

As I've eluded to in recent posts, my schedule is in bad need of reorganising and letting go of a few things. For me to give of myself more fully and with more focus, to not only my own pursuits, but to Philomena and AW, I need to create more space and time in my life, so there is time to consider what is most important. Children need time and patience. Life needs to be at a pace which allows time to observe and consider carefully, and be able to respond with more thought to the people around you.

There have been other things that have needed by urgent attention, but I won't go into those. They are just things that have added to the mix. This year seems to be one of those roller-coaster years, and when I look at it realistically, I think the remainder of the year is probably not going to change much. It's been a year of experimentation and adjustment.

I'm between a rock and a hard place, and it's been struggle street the entire year. But you know, life is like that. It's not a smooth ride. There's peaks and troughs, but there's also that place in-between. I'm there at this moment. I hit a peak. I'm not in a trough, but I'm in-between on my way back up to a peak. I just haven't redefined exactly the road to get me back there. And my intuition tells me that's it's going to take the remainder of the year to work out how to get back there exactly.

Part of my melancholy is the fact that I've worked extremely hard this year and I've been so tired. It's been a week where I've felt that some of my efforts have seemed futile, and it's got me down. It's because I've been fighting to keep myself afloat with the challenges I've faced. I am...so...very...tired. There also hasn't been any consistency this year, and that can really wear you down emotionally.

Apart from that, life is still good and I'm glad to be me! There is so much to be thankful for...even the challenges.