Hi gorgeous internet friends and readers, it has been a very long time since I last updated this blog.
I've spent a few months reflecting and redirecting myself, so I thought it was appropriate to make a return, and reintroduce myself.
My name is Gemma - I am the owner, writer and curator of this space!
I’m a writer, journalist, artist and lover from Melbourne, Australia.
If you’ve been here for a while you know that every year I make a list of 100 resolutions for each year on New Year’s Eve.
This year, I wanted to tackle my year a little differently - smaller list, bigger dreams!!
I’m not going to go through my entire list in detail here (you can watch a full video of the goals here if you like) but basically, I’m focusing on the bigger things that I’ve been chasing over the last few years that have remained just a little out of reach.
I know its April and the first quarter of the year has finished and it might seem silly to rehash my resolutions and goals for the year, but I think revisiting the goals is a great way to stay on track or to get back on the bandwagon of success.
I’ve already completed a few things and have other items to tick off very soon, which I am very proud of. One thing I’m really focused on achieving this year is keeping the promises I make to myself. It’s important for my own self-worth and for the journey of becoming the person I want to be – the best version of myself.
I have been engaging with a lot of self-help and betterment content recently and the one thing I have noticed is this idea that we won't get opportunities if we aren't ready for and I fully believe in this sentiment.
Every opportunity I've been lucky enough to get my hands on, I've already had and developed the tools I've needed to do well at. This was not just luck, it's boiled down to hard work and perseverance and time.
I'm a very determined person, this is something I know and accept about myself. Sometimes though, if I can't see or haven't see the result or the method of action done before me, I find it hard to imagine and come up with a plan for myself. Not always, but sometimes.
I've come to realise I need to work on trusting myself and my intuition and letting those things guide me, rather than letting my fears limit me.
So after a long break away from this blog, I'm recommitting to myself to posting something once a week and tracking my progress in following my dreams.
I've applied for a working Visa for the UK and (all things going well) am planning to leave in July. Before then I want to achieve as many of my 2025 goals as possible, as the move will need my full and undivided attention.
To do this, I have structured a plan and daily routine for myself, similar to a 75-Hard Day challenge.
This is more of a 75-Hard lite version, but a structured plan to follow nonetheless.
So the 10 rules I'm following are:
1. Drink 3L of water daily.
2. Clock in 10,000 steps - either walking, running and in general movement.
3. Practice pilates or yoga daily.
4. Read on chapter of a book daily.
5. Meditate for at least 10 minutes daily.
6. Journal or Morning Pages daily.
7. One ab circuit daily.
8. Sleep at a reasonable hour.
9. Maintain a healthy diet.
10. Vlog my daily activity.
To not hurt my progress I'm starting on Easter Monday and will be tracking my progress on my TikTok in daily vlogs – hope over there if you want to follow more.
I'm anticipating that the structure of my day will instil a sense of purpose for me, and get me keen to tick off more than just my daily 10 tasks.
For now my beautiful readers, enjoy your Easter weekend and live the life you want to live!
I can't wait to update you in the coming weeks to see my progress on the challenge front and also on my 2025 list front.
Tagging onto my sentiment from last week regarding following your dreams with complete reckless abandon and vigour, I thought I would follow on with the obvious next step (for me anyway).
I am quitting my job without a real concrete plan or a backup option to follow my dreams.
If you enjoy your job and it's the dream career pathway for you, this blog post is not meant for you. By all means keep reading of course, but I'm reaching out to my fellow dreamers who have fallen into careers that are not their callings - the people who are dreaming of something else entirely.
If I'm being completely honest I don't hate my job. But I don't love it either. It's most certainly not what I thought I would be doing at 30, and truly not the career stepping stone I imaged it would be when I was first offered the role two and a half years ago.
I'm a local news reporter in Melbourne, working for one of (if not the most popular) newspaper in the city. Day to day is very mundane, there isn't all that much jazz with local news.
While I dreamt of being a writer and Melbourne's answer to Carrie Bradshaw or Andie Anderson, my current job couldn't be further from that (I do feel Andie's pain when she wants to write something that matters and her editor is so limiting!!!!)
So last week after writing my post about committing to yourself, I was journalling and came to a realisation. In order to commit to myself, I need to fully commit to my dreams and aspirations, and to do that, I really need to quit my job.
Now thinking pragmatically because let me be one hundred percent honest, we are in a cost of living crisis and I'm not going to cold quit my job without a little bit of savings and backing to myself - I won't be leaving immediately. I think we can all agree that kind of rash decision making is for rich people who have no stress factors in their lives apart from happiness.
What I plan to do is a little but more strategic than that.
I've given myself three months to build up as thick of a foundation as possible, to get all my figurative ducks in a row and to make myself a plan for the following time frame that will constitute me following my dreams and actually succeeding. I'm trying to put my best foot forward to achieve exactly what I want and not need to take a step back into something that I'm not passionate about.
Sometimes I think people really hesitate to do the things they really want to do, whether it be because of the stories we tell ourselves in our minds, the stories society tell us about success and what it means to be fulfilled, or just because we think our dreams are out of touch from reality.
I don't want to be that person anymore. I don't want to be held back by these invisible, non-existent barriers that only stop me from reaching my full potential in life and happiness.
I have been working very hard to change the stories I tell myself in my mind, and after an incident at my current workplace (not with me, but with my colleague and management), I understood that my time at the company is coming to a close and I need to move on to something bigger and better; on to something that just in general, is a better fit for me.
I know that being self-employed is not a lifestyle everyone can achieve or that everyone wants - but I think it is the lifestyle change I want for myself, at least for now.
I obviously will keep writing this blog as a way to track how I'm going and to continue the development of my own writing.
But for now - I'm going to quit my job and follow my dreams. I definitely think it's something everyone should consider doing at least once in their lives (obviously make sure you're not going to send yourself into homelessness please, this message is not for every single person in this moment of time, prepare yourself!!).
Let's be the generation of people who don't take no for an answer - the generation of people who make things happen for ourselves and find the joy that we desire from doing the things we love and turning them into a profitable way to live!
These are my thoughts for the week, I know I'll be back next week with something just as crazy I'm sure, but for now, all the love in the world to whoever has made it this far down.
Love always,
G xx
p.s please support my journey to self employment - follow me on my other platforms (they're all free) and engage with me <3
