How liquid breakfast pulled me through a mini-crisis.

Image by James Lee Parry for Oyster Magazine.

Image by James Lee Parry for Oyster Magazine.

I recently had an epiphany on Up&Go’s claim of possessing the ‘goodness’ of 2 Weetbix and Milk.

It’s an inventive marketing ploy, to embed ‘goodness’ into something as simple as 3 breakfast ingredients, but the events of a certain yesterday have taught me that such combinations really are, inherently god sent.

I’ll break it down for you.

The events which took place less than 24 hours ago, saw me:

  • Experience one of my worst fears: getting a flat tyre, driving high speed on the freeway,
  • At the most inconvenient of times: on the way to an end of semester exam worth 70% of my overall mark,
  • In undesirable circumstances: 120km northwesterly winds, torrential rain and a deep dark sky.

Needless to say, my insurance finally came in handy after an almost perfect 3-year term on my P-Plates. I mean, I was running a stellar track record, and was was pretty proud of having acquired nothing more than a cheeky bump into the back of an old commodore, in my attempts to escape the Safeway car park up to this point.

But this was a whole new playing field, one requiring me to jump on board a tow truck, and effectively miss the essential 10 minute duration of exam reading time (not to mention the ENTIRE exam).

It was horrible, literally the worst possible thing that could have happened, but I have surprised myself in thinking that it was the BEST sequence of events to occur on that very, Melbourne day.

Firstly, I didn’t swerve off the road and cause a major collision, disrupting the homecoming traffic on a major freeway.

Secondly, I didn’t have to suffer a wrongly, prolonged exam duration – the lecturer accidentally prescribed the 3 hour exam as 4 hours on this exam day. Ew.

Thirdly, I came out alive without so much as a broken nail. AMEN!

My RACV ‘knight in shining armour’ says if I’d driven any further, the rubber part of my tyre would have completely stripped off, leaving me rolling fast paced on the metal part of my wheel – a prospect which could have been extremely catastrophic given the weather and road conditions.

This deserves another AMEN, because to be honest, I am in no position to accept any liability – I have a flight to all things Rome: Meatballs, Nonnas, Vespa rides and Italian stallions, in 48 hours time.

So essentially, I am one grateful cookie that these whole shenanigans played out they way they did. I am alive, I am safe and I finally got a chance to make use of those endless insurance fees.

Sure it doesn’t have the protein, energy and fibre of 2 Weetbix and Milk like my favourite, Chocolate Up&Go carton, but it’s pretty damn full of goodness.

Yay for being alive!

Where can you source goodness today? Holla!

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Have you got time to be happy?

Because every day is better when your happy!

Probs not, I mean with all the good series out at the moment, and the accessibility provided by Foxtel On Demand, not to mention the gossip sessions with pals and necessary winging over assignments and heat, I totally get that you more than likely don’t have the diary space to pencil in ‘happiness’.

Lol.

I don’t care if you have to get up before your first three alarms, or have to miss the entrée. You best make time for this essential activity. A smile a day. Two, three, four, a hundred. As many as you can in fact, winner is the best.

Today I will be gathering a camaraderie of troops to commence 100 days of happiness. 

Be an experimenter, a YES man! 100% money back guarantee!

The old you would do it, join me in the #100happydays challenge here.

Thank-you x 1,000

http://www.sycamorestreetpress.com

“Thank-you a thousand times.”
Image by Sycamore Street Press.

Man I wish I was French, I think I would just talk to myself so I could hear these beautifully sexy and divine words.

But there’s something even more important about this delicious set of syllables, and I would like to propose it to you as a dare, a “double-dog-dare” if you like!

Here its, *drumroll please* I hereby, dare you to say thank-you a thousand times.

Reckon you could do it in a day, a week, a month, a year, even a lifetime?

More importantly, could you actually find a thousand things to say thank-you for? I started a little list myself and spotted at least 20 before I stepped out of my bedroom (bed, pillow, T.V, Barbie dream house, the list goes on).

It’s funny, when you’re faced with the said challenge, you actually do find SO many things to say thank-you for (can I get an amen for sliced bread??).

So go on sparky, say thanks for this, for that, for anything really!

And tell me, what did you find to be thankful for first?

The Barbie Belief System.

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It’s easy to be a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, if you’re not in a Barbie world though – which many of us mere humans are certainly not (Jen Hawkins my friend, you are an exception) – its pretty damn hard to be a Barbie girl.

My guess is that the same law of physics applies to the whole “happiness” thing. It’s easy to be happy if you live in a happy world complete with loving parents, cool siblings, a lot of shifts at a job you love, a cool car, an awesome place to live, crazy fun friends and a constant tan. I’m basically referring to the the Pounder Meal with chicken sauce on the side to dip your chippies in; the whole enchilada; or as my beloved year 12 Maths teacher would say, ‘the whole sha-bang’.

What I mean, is that, it’s easy to be happy when everything is going super well, our beliefs that “everything happens for a reason”, that “every failure is a lesson is disguise”, that “(insert whatever inspiring quote turns you on)” seem so solid.

For sure, why wouldn’t we believe that we were MEANT to land that internship, MEANT to make that new friend, MEANT to get a day off on the hottest weekday? Seems logical to me!

But how about when we crash a car, have a fight with a younger sister (who constantly wears your clothes without asking…I wouldn’t name names), fail that subject, or lose the job you love. Surely all that was 100%, NOT MEANT to happen. Surely.

How much would you want to throw eggs on the head of anyone who attempted to tell you that “crashing your car is certainly for the best”. Like, I think I would actually cut you.

No way am I “happy”, and I DO NOT believe that this was for the purpose of some profound “life lesson”.

There is no way.

José.

(This was getting too serious, so thought I’d invite my Mexican friend to join the post :D).

But seriously. When a winning streak collapses, what do you believe then? Do you still believe that you live a wonderful life? That Santa is still real and that the monsters won’t find you if you hide under the covers for long enough?.

(On this note, can I just say, WHAT is Rihanna’s deal with being friends with the monster that’s under her bed? She is one crazy gal!)

It’s hard. But in the midst of the most challenging, heart-breaking, spine-chilling and uncertain times, I think the only thing we can believe, is that life will go on.

Tomorrow the sun will rise, 9am will become 10am, we will get hungry, get thirsty, hear a song, see the stars, hug, talk, and soon enough, smile, laugh and believe in all those beautiful things again.

As we grow and see this cycle re-emerge with the same certainty as the seasons that pass, a new belief is borne, one which takes precedence over all others. And it is this: that something good will actually, eventually, one day emerge.

Not before bedtime, or before the weekend. Maybe not even before your 21st, Christmas, or before you graduate. But one day.

One day you will look back and smile at what you thought was the end of your world. Smile at your naïveté in allowing you to lose that ‘spark’, along with the happiness you vowed to always believe in.

We soon can appreciate that yep, they were right, it was for your own good. It was just, life.

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I would love to know which beliefs keep you sane in the midst of difficult times, please feel free to contact me and and share your recipe for lemonade when life gives you lemons!