Thankful Thursday

Life lessons

If 2013 has taught me anything so far, it's that:

and that I should:

I've learnt these lessons the hard way more than a few times this year when I have missed out because I was too scared to act at the time. Even though the way that some situations have ended up because of this has not been ideal, I'm still so very thankful for the lessons. New resolution (since I seem to have achieved pretty much everything I resolved at New Year already!!) - take more risks!!

I'm also so glad that I am strong enough to take risks again. For a long time there I just couldn't do it, because if the risk didn't pay off, I would end up in a spiral that I couldn't get out of. I'm so glad that this year I am in a better place.

Good friends

I had a really fun night out with a good friend on Friday. She just got married, and is now getting back into completing her PhD, so I haven't been able to spend much time with her recently. She is someone who isn't afraid to take risks (sensing a theme?), stand up for herself or just have a good time. (Friday night ended with us singing Counting Crows with a busker - how many people would do that with you?) She inspires me to be silly, and to be myself. Also, every time I get down and think that I don't have any friends in Canberra, I really should just pinch myself and remember all the wonderful people I've met here.

Technology

In preparation for my upcoming Europe/South Korea trip, my brother, mum and I have been in pretty much constant contact planning away. I'm so glad that even though my mum is 1160 km away in Adelaide and my brother is 17000 km away in France, we can still easily plan using apps like Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype and email on our phones. It makes everything so much easier. I remember when I went to the US in 2006 for six months - I talked to my family one time when I was over there - a short phone conversation on my 18th birthday. My brother has been in France since the end of January and I've pretty much talked to him at least every other week on Skype, not including all the time we spend messaging. Oh what a difference 7 years makes.

Good feedback

One particular project at work has been very frustrating. I have been trying and trying and trying to get some feedback on some materials that I have prepared, and I have hit dead ends every time. There were also some mis-understandings and basically, it just wasn't very fun. This week I got a long email from a person from an outside organisation with lots of constructive and encouraging feedback. I'm so glad someone took the time to look over something that I really care about and give me feedback so that it can be the best it can be.