Looking Backwards, Sideways, Forwards

Yeah yeah. I felt obliged to do it: write a year in review post.

Except, I’m doing a non-sucky, non-New Year’s Resolution post. A commentary on my own failings and achievements for the past year. And something about 2010 for good measure.

This post written on the mighty EeePC powered by Eeebuntu.

2009: The Year I Went Blah

My daughter started university. I finished the thesis. I also went a long way to destroying Life As I Know It. I stopped going to the gym, doing exercise for several months, doing yoga. At one point, I even stopped reading. The thesis took over my life. Work got really busy. I burnt out. I was a bitch and treated my partner badly. I got depressed. I lost it and ended up in hospital. I discovered Turbulence Training. I rediscovered yoga, reading and love. My partner deserves a special mention. He is my hero.

I set out to read 52 books this year. I read 50.

My favourite books: The Book Thief, Marcus Zukac (fiction); Shadows on the Path, Abdi Assadi (non-fiction).

Honourable Mentions: Yoga School Dropout, Lucy Edge (non-fiction); The Van Gogh Blues, Eric Maisel (non-fiction); Yuendumu Everyday, Yasmine Musharbash (non-fiction); Cave in the Snow, Vicki Mackenzie (non-fiction).

Books That Sucked: Get Motivated, Tamara Lowe (so bad I couldn’t finish it); The Naked Entrepreneur, Hazard & Elita (two wannabes giving money grubbing pseudo-spiritual advice); Disordered Minds, Minette Walters (apparently, she’s a good writer!).

Things I Learned in 2009:

I do not have an Inner Fat Woman Waiting To Burst Out
Breaking BIG things down into the smallest possible parts works
Doing something everyday (or consistently) means even the biggest mountains will be climbed
Convincing myself to “…just do it for 20 minutes …” defeats procrastination
I can own an Ipod, provided it’s an Itouch
Macs are probably better PCs, especially if that means NEVER having to have McAfee again
Turbulence Training is nearly as good as Body Pump
Bill Harris of Holosync fame is a complete and utter pratt
The yoga teacher training I did in late 2008 psychologically damaged me

Missions Possible:

Thanks to Benny the Irish Polyglot for this inspirational rejection of lame, washed out New Year’s resolutions (NYRs). Why missions? Read Benny’s post. I’m not going to repeat it here.

Last year, I finished the biggest project I’ve ever undertaken in my life. Now I’m free, free, free to do what ever I want. Here are some missions for this year:

take better care of myself mentally and physically
read 10 books per month
read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Indonesian
start learning Hindi (mid year) for our motorcycle tour of India in 2011
go to 2 yoga workshops interstate
hang out with Svasti, Nadine & Linda in person
be able to run 10km again (I usually can do this hands down, but I’m the unfittest I’ve been in 20 years)
get my courage up and go back to the gym 3 times per week
prove to myself that Turbulence Training can give me the results that Pump does
do yoga at least 5 times per week
climb Mt Giles
in fact, go bushwalking and camping as much as I possibly can
go overseas at least once and twice if we can manage it (We’re going to Bali & Lombok on 29^th Jan) (leave is the problem, not $$)
start a proper garden

Well. I hope you’re all puffed out, puffed up and ready to go. Review dates: 1 March, 1 June, 1 Sept, 31st Dec.

Let’s go…

6 thoughts on “Looking Backwards, Sideways, Forwards”

I LOVE this post! love the attitude….now I know why we get along…;)

“The yoga teacher training I did in late 2008 psychologically damaged me” — I want to know more.

“hang out with Svasti, Nadine & Linda in person”

yes, yes, and yes!

and for that 2011 trip in India…if you’re going south, learn some Tamil…Hindi not spoken in Tamil Nadu. ever!

Very nice! I’m trying to get 100 books read this year, good luck on your goals!

There’s nothing like deconstructing ourselves and our lives in order to grow. No one suggests this is an easy path, but it *is* part of how we evolve as human beings. When you wrote “destroying Life As I Know It”, I actually wanted to cheer for you!

It’s like YESSSS, there’s nothing that takes more courage than to step into the unknown. And it’s very common for depression to come along when we break down all our former ideas.

But it sounds like you are on the way back up now, and that can be an exhilarating time!

I hope you get to the point where you can do some further yoga teacher training and find healing from that? Did you see Nadine’s post about Mark Whitwall coming to Melbourne? I’m planning to do at least one day of that, if not both. Although maybe you’ll still be in Bali?

Anyway, huzzah! Sooo glad you’re finding your feet in your brave new world. 🙂

@Linda – Thanks, sistah. I know you’re in India now, recovering from a hellish flight. I will eventually write some more about the teacher training from 2008, although I’ll have to be very careful not to name names… It’s a very well known yoga school in Australia. Ok on the Tamil – I’m not sure where we’re going yet, but I do know about Tamil in South India -my Honours supervisor was Tamil!

@Craig: Wow!! Craig Ballantyne visited my blog! Thanks so much for dropping by. I am trying to be a credible (!) advertisement for Turbulence Training. Maybe I will get up my courage and go in one of the Transformation Challenges… maybe!

@Svasti: I am feeling a lot better about yoga now. Practicing at home nearly every day since 16th December. It’s like yoga is in my bones now, in my breath and transforming me from the most subtle levels, outwards.

I’m still not ready to return to teaching, and I think I would like to take some more teacher training. However, next time, I will be very, very careful about where I go. No more 2 week intensives for me which push you for 15 hrs per day!

I will be just returning from Bali when Mark Whitwell is in Melbourne, so I just won’t be able to make it. I will get myself to Melbourne for some workshops later in the year, though. Maybe Judith Lassiter and Donna Farhi? Have you seen them in AYL?