Revolution No.9

This evening I near the end of my second day as a 36 year old.  And as I do, I am left pondering what life is like on the 'other side' of 35.

Amazingly, it's about the same as it was 2 years ago, when I was 34.  There are a few subtle differences, however.  I now take my tea with no sugar whats-so-ever.  I have a purple fringe at 36, and I made the decision to grow out the shaved bits on the side of my head.

Oh.

And I've decided that if I am to make it to the other side of 40 (isn't it always that age mile-stones should come in fives?) psychologically intact, I am going to have do some serious life spring-cleaning.

At 36, I am now entering a personal year 9.  Any astute follower of numerology would be able to tell you that a 9 year is all about endings.  It's like your chance to tidy those loose ends up and make way for the next cycle in your life.  There are many things that I can apply this too, and will be doing so over the next 12 months.  I want to ensure that I am ready to tackle 37 LIKE A BOSS!

To start with, I need to sort out three specific things:

1. Spinning wool
About... 4-5 years ago, I had this crazy brainwave that I wanted to spin.  Wool that is.  I was gung-ho (as I usually am when I have an 'idea-fest'), managed to secure a shitty old 1960s Ashford wheel and ordered a big bag of scrubbed wool to spin.  And then, as usually happens with me, I lost interest just as quickly when I couldn't get the hang of it.  I had a adult-tanty and turned my back on the fleece!  Fast forward another 2 years and I was able to afford a brand new wheel.  Again, I threw myself at it with fibre-induced gusto... but then the passion for ply disappeared.

And now we are in 2014.   And for the first time, I've actually spent a decent amount of time treadling and spinning.  It's uneven, it's corkscrew like, it's falling apart in places... but I'm FINALLY DOING IT!  Even if it takes me until next February to spin a usable skein of yarn, I will persevere.

2.  Gardening
They always say 'be careful what you wish for'!  Well, I wished for a big garden that was like a blank canvas.  I got it.  Along with the worst infestation of couch grass, dandelions and some of the most unforgiving clay soil with limestone ROCK buried not too far from the surface. ARGH!!  And so, the test begins!

It's been 18 months, and to be honest I've not done a lot with the yard.  So I've planted a couple of fruit trees... the reality is I've been a lazy bum with my garden.  It hurts to admit it, but I've just become so despondent with the gale force winds and poor soils, that have killed a majority of what I've attempted to plant.  I was damn lucky then, that Michelle gave me a consultation with a garden designer for my birthday.  Of course, now I am forced to work out what I want out there.  To be honest it hurt a lot when I realised how lazy and neglectful I'd been to my outside space.  Not to mention disrespectful.  So my goal is to sort this garden space out once and for all.  I may not be Miss Self Sufficiency 2014, but I will ensure that the space I have out there reflects me and the time I have to spend on it.

3.  Career
THE BIG C!

I don't think there are many of us who are driving and focused enough from a young age to actually HAVE our careers mapped out by 36!  If you do, good luck to you!  If not, don't lose heart... you are not alone!

We are the people who either flit from job to job, or retain the same position forever because we really don't know what we want.  Or we don't care.  Or just a bit from column A and a bit from column B.

Before you get jealous though of those who have their whole career-life planned out ahead of them at age 18, remember one thing... KNOW THYSELF!  Because quite frankly, I don't think you can know yourself before you've experienced that crazy thing called life.  Ergo, you can't really know what you want in life, or your career for that matter, until you've lived a little.  Crazy, but true.

It is my goal in the next 12 months to make sure I've gotten to know thyself, and get thyself ready to kick some new career buttocks in my personal year 1.  My current role is certainly throwing up some interesting challenges of late, so I'm using this as my cue to spring-clean my career aspirations .

So there are the challenges that lie ahead of me.  Or not so challenging really, as they're decisions I made before my personal year 9 kicked off... that's another tip I've been given; don't make plans or change things too dramatically in a personal year 9.  It's a year of careful preparation for the years ahead.