Countdown

It's finally time to go... I'm one hour away from heading off to the airport for a trip that has seemed so long in the planning. The bags are packed, the house is clean, the farewells made. I'm just one not-so-short flight away from Germany and then the 10 month adventure begins!!

I am pumped to see that you're (mostly) with me!! The very first poll question - "Am I crazy to swap Melbourne summer for German winter" has  70% vote for Germany. For those of you who think it's batshit crazy (and you know who you are), I say maybe. But despite the prospect of short days, rain and icy winds, I'm super excited to get out of my comfort zone and try out this whole go with the flow concept.

My biggest goal for this year is to try let go of setting goals. This is pretty hard for me. Working towards goals is a pretty big security blanket. If you're working towards a goal, you can't really be going wrong, right? Generally, the whole goal thing is a pretty good idea. But I think it can breed some tunnel vision and there's a lot out there to see and learn. 

A friend sent me an awesome letter written by Hunter S Thompson at age 22 to a friend who asked him for advice on the meaning of life. He said - and I'm paraphrasing here - that we set up goals which demand certain things of us, and we do these things. But as we work towards them, we change; yet we don't adjust the goal in response to these changes. This leads to a narrow, vertical rather than broad and horizontal life. I find it all kind of fascinating... I identify with the vertical life concept - but maybe it's time to try the other approach?? 

Phew, okay, it's time to stop channelling a hippie gonzo journalist and pack my passports!!