So this blog is absolutely nothing like the one I had planned to post tonight, but really I shouldn’t be suprised. When does life ever actually go to plan, especially with technology involved?

I had a beautiful long story planned, about how a late night of tossing and turning in bed had turned into the realisation of one of lifes greatest blessings; Family.

I wrote about how amazingly beautiful and strong my Mumma is and how she is the glue that holds us all together, and how any girl born with a Mumma like mine was born with the most precious gift in the world; a bestfriend for life. I wrote about how brave and heroic my Dadda is and how just a single moment wrapped up in his arms can make even the largest of problems melt away, and how any girl born with a Dadda like mine never stood a chance of being anything other than “Daddys Little Girl”. I wrote about how protective yet adventurous my big brother is and how even just his presence is enough to make an entire room smile, and how any girl born with a big brother as amazing as mine was born with her very own Superman.

I wrote about how no amount of struggles, hardships or tough times could ever break the bond of a family and how against all odds, everything we’ve been through together over the past couple of years and every road we have unwillingly taken has only strengthened that bond. I wrote about how lucky I am and how the love that a family shares should never be taken for granted, because the kind of love that a family shares is strong enough to move mountains. It’s strong enough to change the world.

I wrote about how instead of falling straight to sleep that night I stayed up a little bit later. I stayed up and prayed, and for the first time in a long time I thanked my angels twice, because for the first time in a long time I truly felt blessed again.

So maybe, at the end of all this, I shouldn’t blame it on technology. Maybe the entirety of this realisation wasn’t suppose to be for the world to see. Maybe it was just meant for me, for my own personal growth. Maybe it was designed to be one of those silent magical moments, the ones that you keep to yourself and just smile about, but then again, I was never the girl who just kept to herself and smiled.

I was always the girl who shared her smile with the world.

Exactly 724 days ago – 6 days off two years, I had my last date with my Wii balance board. Almost two years to the day since I last exercised other than walking and although balance games on the Wii wouldn’t exactly be considered exercise to your everyday athlete, to me, right now, it was one of the best feelings in the world.

I’m still not certain whether it was the Wii activities themself that had me smiling from ear to ear or if it was more what being able to do them again represented – a definate stepping stone, clearly highlighting just how far I had come, either way nothing could wipe that smile off my face.

After just fifteen minutes of ‘Wii-ing” my body had well and truly had enough but that didn’t matter, because to me fifteen minutes of this, felt like I had just made it to the Olympics and was finally taking my first steps towards winning the Gold Medal. Just fifteen minutes and I was finally heading in the direction of exactly where I wanted to be – healthy.  

Suprisingly enough, fifteen minutes was all the time I needed to make a difference. I had reached new high scores not only in the soccer heading, but I had collected perfect scores in the basic step game, my first successful trip along the tightrope walk, a close fourth in the ski jump and yes, although there may have been a rather sad score on the penguin slide, even that was enough to beat my score from 724 days ago.

So no, I may not have done hours and hours of Yoga or run for kilometres around the block. I may not have been to the gym or lifted weights all afternoon and I may not have done enough to be considered impressive in the eyes of someone else, but for me and for where I am in my life right now, I had just made the world of difference. Not only had I improved my balance and slowly built up my core strength, but I had finally started taking those baby steps forward. Even more than that though, I had given myself hope again.

If the past two years have taught me anything, it’s that it is far better to take a million small steps in the right direction than to make a single giant leap forward, only to stumble backwards. So here I am, taking as many small steps forward as it takes until I find myself exactly where I want to be.

“He who would learn to fly one day, must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

You know those days that start out in a way that seem to be just like any other, yet by the end of the night, you just know that you will remember it forever? Not because something drastically life changing had happened, but because it was a day where you truly felt happy; that completely content with the world kind of happy. Well today was one of those days and if you have any idea what the last two years have been like for my family, then you will understand completely just how much of a blessing a day like this was.

Today I woke up to the sun shining and a slight breeze blowing in through the small opening in my window that instantly made me smile. I started out my day like every other – a trip to the bathroom, a glass of warm lemon juice and a bowl of homemade muesli with berries and rice milk. It wasn’t the start to my morning that was out of the ordinary though, it was the fact that for the first time in a really, really long time, I had the entire day to myself. No doctors appointments, no physio appointments, no grocery shopping to be done, no bedroom/bathroom/kitchen to be cleaned and nowhere to be except exactly where I wanted to be.

So with the sun shining and a beautiful day all to myself, I put on my bikinis, woke up my sleeping beauty of a boyfriend, messaged my bestfriend to come over and we headed to the pool. Like always though, our plan seemed to be much better in theory than in reality. Don’t be fooled world, the sun may have been shining, but that in no way stopped the icicles from forming in the pool. The place we once knew as ‘The Aquatic Centre’ had been frozen into our very own Antarctica. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

Now, I’m not one to handle a change in temperature very well, but for the good of the group, I put on a brave face and entered Antarctica. I’m not going to lie though, for a good couple of minutes there, I was certain that I had turned into a penguin. Not to worry though, the trip hadn’t been a complete failure, I did develop a new found understanding of what life would be like for an Eskimo. Never again.

So with the pool idea not exactly going to plan, we headed home. For the record, this is about where things start to get interesting. With two boys at home (note the term boys and not men), both being Christophers – the definitition of trouble, things tend to get a little bit competitive at times. Especially where the ping pong table is concerned. So, as fate would have it, it didn’t take long before a “Mine is bigger than Yours” competition arose, with the rest of the family quick to jump in on the excitement.

Now before we get too far ahead of ourselves, here is a quick background on our ping pong team: we have Boyfriend, who is a complete stud and the current reigning champion. We have Brother, who although he remained a solid 10 points behind Boyfriend during every game, still likes to believe he is a superstar. We have Dad, who is slightly handicapped but who still managed to put up quite a fight. We have Mum, who after much dedication finally convinced Boyfriend to play her right handed instead of left handed and still managed to lose. We have the Bestfriend, who in her prime could have been quite a contender, however was lucky to keep her pants on during todays game, and then we have myself, who couldn’t even charm her way to the win. To be honest though, I was just happy to be able to pick up the ping pong bat and actually make contact with the ball. I was rather impressive if I do say so myself.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting my family, you would know that once all of us get together (on a good day) it’s nothing but never ending jokes, the occassional personal attack and a whole bunch of laughter. So, I would say that going by the topic of conversation, the endless giggles in the background and the smiles on every one of our faces, I’m going to have to say that today was definately a good day.

It was what happened next that surprised me the most. I didn’t realise at first that I had become so familiar with sitting back from the crowd and watching things happen, so this caught me a little off guard. I was sitting on the couch playing with Boyfriend’s phone when I looked up and realised just how much I was missing out on. Dad was laughing, Brother was teasing anyone and everyone, even Mum was in on the jokes and just like that, it hit me almost instantaneously. 

Within seconds, the phone I was once so interested in had fallen from my hands and back onto the couch, where it stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

Days like this don’t come around as often as they should. They’re fleeting, so when they do pop up within reach you need to grab them with both hands and enjoy every single last second. Today, I am proud to say that is exactly what I did.

2012; it is only Day 2 and you are already proving to be a life changing year. If I didn’t know better, I would say you are going to be exactly what the doctor ordered – a breath of fresh air.

  When it comes to welcoming in the new year, I’m not normally like the rest of the world. I don’t follow trend and make big huge plans on how to spend the night or go and waste every last cent I own on alcohol that I won’t even remember drinking. I don’t flock to the big crowds and I don’t stay up dancing all night. I don’t spend all week planning out the perfect outfit and I don’t stress about whether or not Prince Charming is going to give me my New Years kiss. I don’t write a list of my New Years Resolutions and I don’t make a million plans for the year ahead. But then again, I don’t usually write publicly for the whole world to see either. 

This year though, this year i’m trying something new.

This year I did make plans on how to spend the night. They might not have been huge plans and they might not have involved alcohol or large groups of people, but I did make plans.

This year I watched a baseball game; my favourite game in the whole entire world. I watched my Boyfriend and his team play one of the best games they’ve played all year and then I watched the most beautiful fireworks sparkle and dance above the diamond. I came home early to a house full of my big brothers friends and I watched my favourite TV show, with my favourite boy while I  ate my favourite food; kettle popcorn.  I counted down until midnight and I kissed my Prince Charming. I watched my beautiful Matilda go for her first run of the year, wished my mumma, my dadda and my big brother a Happy New Year and I went to bed with a smile on my face.

This year I did what I wanted to do, with the people who mean the most to me – my family.

This year I did plan the perfect outfit (or atleast I tried too). I may have changed my mind a million times over before making a final decision on what to wear and the outfit that was chosen may have been nothing like the one that had been planned, but the thought was still there nonetheless.

This year I didn’t need to stress about who was going to be my New Years kiss, because this year I was the girl who was already wrapped up in the arms of her Prince Charming. The girl completely head over heels in love.

This year I did make a list of my New Years Resolutions and this year I did make plans for the year ahead. This year, I made plans for me.

New Years Resolutions

1. Listen to my body.

2. Everyday do at least one thing just for me. How big or how small is irrelevant as long as it makes me happy.

3. Learn to love myself. Not the person I want to be a month from now or a year from now, but the person I am now – flaws and all.

4. Continue to work on and build my core strength.

5. Be healthy enough and strong enough to run again.

6. Be well enough that I can eat all fruits and vegetables, without turning yellow.

7. Start writing again.

So here I am, following the rules of New Years Resolution number 7; Introducing myself to the blogging world. Here I am sharing my secrets and searching for inspiration. Here I am after two years of watching life pass me by, finally starting to live again.

This year I’m sweeping the world off its feet.

This year I’m going to shine again.