Facing another week

I have been committing some serious blog negligence over the past little while. 

The Olympics just about took over my life for the past few weeks and I think I slumped into some kind of post Olympics blues this week just past. 

I was late to just about everything I had to go to, I struggled badly to engage at uni and I skipped a lecture or two because I was either too lazy to get out of bed in time or too bored to stay. I think I exercised twice in the whole week and whilst I did not commit any serious crimes against nutrition, there is certainly room for improvement in that department too.

This week I will get back on track. My goals for this week are simple; go to all classes, be on time, get enough sleep, eat healthily and do my usual amount of exercise. 

This week I will find the time to write about the gymnastics at the Olympics, how returning to coaching has been the best thing that I've done in a long time and how to work out when a friendship is no longer worth the effort. 

Can't find the original source of this picture, if it is you please let me know and I will credit you!
Aliya Mustafina competing in London. She is one of my favourite gymnasts of the modern era, everything about her is magnificent except  for her form on her triple full.

I will also write a public service announcement encouraging young persons to keep themselves safe when they are out and about, as there was a nasty "close shave" incident in the household this weekend. 

I hope you are happy and well. If you, like me, are feeling a little bit off track at the moment don't make a grand promise that you'll behave like a new person come Monday morning. Set yourself a little goal, something so easy you think you could do it everyday for the rest of your life. If you start that small and stick with it, you'll actually set yourself up for long-term success. Then, once the first goal is as an ordinary a part of your daily life as brushing your teeth in the morning, add something new.

Dream a little dream

My sister's posts have been so fantastic, I feel I really ought to raise the bar of my standard of blogging!

Today I'm going to write about dreams.

I was the sort of kid who dreamed gigantic dreams. When I was a toddler I wanted to be a doctor, when I was in early primary school I wanted to be a judge and by time I was in year 7 I was certain that I would be the first female Prime Minister of Australia (Thanks for crushing that one, Julia). The most unattainable, crazy 'dream' I've had was to be 2008 Olympic Champion in the all-around for artistic gymnastics. This would have made me the first Australian gymnast to win any Olympic medal in women's artistic gymnastics and I was not even in a pre-elite program at the time! I have my personal diary from when I was 10 years old and I really thought that was going to happen... (For those of you who didn't catch the coverage of Beijing, I didn't win :-P). 

It is something that has been bothering me for a little while now, that I don't have a dream. 

Initially, I couldn't work out why. Plenty of adults don't have a dream, right? It's just a part of growing up, isn't it? You're just getting more 'realistic' about what you're likely to do... This got me thinking more deeply about what a dream actually is. I thought I needed to get a better grasp on what exactly it is I felt I was missing in my psyche. 

dream

n.

1. A series of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.

2. A daydream; a reverie.

3. A state of abstraction; a trance.

4. A wild fancy or hope.

5. A condition or achievement that is longed for; an aspiration: a dream of owning their own business.

6. One that is exceptionally gratifying, excellent, or beautiful: Our new car runs like a dream.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dream) 

I think for most folk, a dream starts off as no. 4. 

I'm not crushed by the fact that I won't ever be an Olympic gymnast, that opportunity has long past. Actually attaining a dream, or getting close enough to it that it can be classified under definition no. 5, isn't something that will happen to everyone. But I'm starting to think that that might not be entirely problematic.

Even if your dream never progresses from no. 4 to no. 5 there is so much joy to be had. The satisfaction of working hard, the like-minded people you meet who become life-long friends and the specialized skills. The sense of purpose and direction you get from going to bed at night and knowing exactly what function the next day plays in turning a 'fancy' into an achievement. The steps you make along the way are ones that shape and define the key moments of your life. The lows might be lower, but the highs are much higher, too. Living seems like a deeper, richer and more colourful experience, with greater dimensions, when you are striving toward a dream. 

My Pa died last year, 3 days short of his 83rd birthday. When he was young, one of his dreams (he would not have used that word) was to go to Oxford. He was an excellent student at university and also excelled as a footballer and was eligible to apply for a Rhodes Scholarship. He got very close to that dream, he was the runner up to the South Australian scholarship. Whilst he subsequently never studied at Oxford, he did become Chief Judge of the Adelaide District Court and President of the South Australian National Football League.  He significantly improved the efficiency of the District Court's administration, ensuring the right to a timely trial was delivered better than ever before. He also protected the sovereignty of South Australian football and saw a stadium built to house it when other sporting authorities would not deliver a reasonable arrangement for a playing home base. 

Pa did not reach that dream and yet he gained so much.

My Pa was a passionate man. He was passionate about the law, football as well as music, golf, his family and friends and a host of other things. Working toward a dream, whether you reach it or not breeds a honest, passionate zest for life. 

I suspect that's what I'm missing.

Do you have a dream? If yes, please share it below! (You can comment anonymously!)