Jingle bells, jingle bells, etc.
Its the end of 2016. I am not going to lie, I am pretty happy to see 2016 go, for a lot of reasons.
For starters, think about the toll that 2016 has taken on creativity and awesomeness: David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince, etc.
(easy opportunity to share one of my favourite yet underestimated Bowie's song, boom)
Second, the more I get involved the more I see how we are fucking up the planet we live on and it does not make me very happy. So I started cleaning up the mess with Trash Hero and this got me to meet some amazing people, which is the positive side of this. In 2017, maybe you too should go out and be the change you want to see. It feels good, it is good, and even if it takes a lot of time it also brings you a lot of good stuff.
Third, well change is good, but sometimes change is tough and full of doubt and hesitations and headaches, and navigating over trouble waters can be harder than it seems. But as Simon and Garfunkel have been singing it since decades, there are always your good friends to be the bridge over trouble water. My friends are fucking amazing, no less, I am grateful for old and new friends every day.
So, I am UBER READY for 2017. I feel 2017 is going to be epic.
It is already epic since I am these days booking flights and stuff for the dive trip of the year that is going to involve one of my favorite person in the world and some of the best diving in the world: Lembeh, Komodo, Ambon, likely Raja, no less. Fuck I cannot wait!
(the map is for my mum and those of you who have no clue what I am talking about)
But before 2017 happens, before we send off 2016 away for good, I have to admit 2016 has taught me a few good things.
As someone put it the other day, over the course of the last 4 years, when I dropped my job and my previous life and made some pretty big life choices, I have changed. The exact words were « you became softer ».
And it turns out that soft is good.
Soft makes letting go of shitty things easier. Soft saves you a lot of energy that you can spend at doing better things than being angry or frustrated. Don’t get me wrong, I am not there yet, but I feel I have taken a few good steps on my personal path this year.
Let me tell you another few things that I learnt in 2016:
Meditation is cool. I spent a month doing this meditation trial called Camp Calm and it was awesome. It opened up a lot of new things. I am doing it on and off since the camp finished, and I will get back to regular practice as soon as I stop procrastinating with it and the rest of my life gets less chaotic.
Chaotic is tiring but chaos is good. Yes, people mock all the time my messiness, my distraction in my daily life and how I forget my shoes, my keys and other stuff in random places. (I managed to go to work without a bikini recently, I have to say that for a dive instructor that is a pretty outstanding achievement). But from chaos emerge a lot of good things. You have to shake, destroy, mess around, move, cut and tear and build. And then things fall into place. Chaos is just one of the ways that work for me, even if I have a hard time making peace with it.
Arrogance is not sexy. Confidence and drive and ambition are often sexy. Arrogance just makes you an arrogant asshole. I am done with with arrogant assholes.
So if you are an arrogant asshole, get out of my way. Other than that, looking forward to 2017 and what it will bring.
Also I have decided to make more time for good things, so who is coming for a visit and some more holidays??
Until then, Amour Et Joie to all and happy holidays