Let the Countdown Begin....

I've always been a firm believer that however you spend your New Year’s Eve, is how you will spend the year that follows.

With this in mind, I have always tried to spend it well, but there are times when my best intentions have resulted in less than admirable outcomes.

There was the time I decided in all my drunken glory, to ride my push bike home from the party I had attended…. This invariably resulted in an incident involving some handlebars and a poorly placed fence.

Then there was the time I decided to confront a frenemy, about her rather bad form at an event I had paid far too much money to go to, resulting in her glass of sparkling being thrown directly into my eyes. If you have never had sparkling in your eyes, thank your lucky stars! The stinging sensation is as close to the 7 circles of hell, I am ever likely to endure.

There has been poor service at restaurants, long walks home in pouring rain, karaoke in extreme heat and a particularly poor experience, involving too much alcohol consumed at work! Not my finest moment. I was trying to drink away my failing marriage....

I spent that entire countdown to midnight, getting to know my toilet intimately.

In all of these instances, the year that followed, reflected my New Year’s escapades in some incarnation or another. If there was struggle, the next 12 months would be a struggle. If it all ended in shame, the next 12 months would cause me some kind of embarrassment. If I made poor choices, sure as my name is Mel, the poor decisions would keep on coming.

As we get older, we discover that we need less and less to truly enjoy this one evening of the year. Good mates, good conversations, good music, good food, just enough alcohol and the ability to call it a day at approximately 12:07!

I have been throwing the tiniest of gatherings for a few years now, keeping the numbers low and the expectations lower than that. It works and I find myself spending the year that follows equally satisfied, with good mates, good conversations, good music, good food, just enough alcohol and the ability to call it a day at approximately 10:30, because nobody needs to stay up until midnight!

2017 went fast, but it also felt as though a lot happened. My son turned 1. My daughter learned to ride her bike without training wheels. I saw Jerry Seinfeld. My friends got married, got serious, got houses, got jobs, got dogs, won awards and generally made me love them all even more! My sister gave me another nephew. My brother faced his fear of heights! My parents got a pool!

I started this blog and scored an interview with Clementine Ford! I started jogging and took more pride in my health than ever before. I made the very huge decision to travel to Europe next year, which is equal parts terrifying and exciting beyond measure!

I am loving life right now and feel confident that 2018 will be even more extraordinary than anything I could have ever dreamed of…. but that’s the key really… to keep on dreaming.

I used to think that anything was possible and then life got to wearing me down and I started to believe that where I was and what I had was all that would ever be.

Then I hit rock bottom and decided to start again.

My mentality shifted and life has never been the same.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you and thank you for sticking with me, while I figure it all out.

See you in 2018 for my biggest adventures yet! I cannot wait to get started!!

#richwithlove #keepdreaming