HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

On 1st January 2017 by Helen

Wow what a year 2016 was. It was one of the biggest years of my life and I made some massive decisions, the main one being to leave my job and come to the other side of the world. For a lot of people it’s a no brainier but for me it was a huge deal. I’m a creature of comfort, I like things to be ordered and I like my ‘safe zone’ however that can sometimes become suffocating and can limit you considerably. I had an amazing job and was really pushing up the ladder and progressing, but I was stressed and anxious having panic attacks. I was becoming exhausted wanting to push higher and higher up the management tree but not having the energy to master the basics first. I had seriously started to doubt if my chosen career path was even what I wanted. I knew I needed to make a massive change to leave England and work to help me prioritise what I want and need in my life to create a balance and be happy. I’m so pleased to say that every day I am here I am figuring more and more things out about what I want for me in order to be the best I can be and to make me happy. Although I have had some low moments over here in terms of homesickness and money worries I can hand on heart say that this was the right decision for me and a huge thank you to all my friends and family that have listened to me and helped me get through tougher days.

So I want 2017 to be just as amazing and life changing! I always make New Years resolutions and am happy to say that the last couple of years I have stuck to them so hopefully I can this year too.

I want to continue working on positivity. In the U.K. I was becoming such a negative person and negativity breads negativity. Although having the odd bad day here and there generally here I am becoming much happier, more positive and less anxious. This is something I want to keep working on.

Also I want to do one thing a month that pushes me completely outside my comfort zone, be that an extreme sport or a social event, just something to help me build self confidence and realise I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

I want to get back into exercise and healthier eating. At home I had a low carb and high protein diet, however in Aus this has flip reversed and I am eating a ton more white carbs and less protein as meat here is insanely expensive. I have also done very little exercise. I do the Coogee to Bondi walk regularly but I can’t tell you how much I miss the gym and PT sessions. So I want to aim to, along with walking at least do 1-2 HIIT sessions a week off YouTube or maybe invest in some outdoor workout classes run at the beach (cost dependent).

I would now guess one question you may now have is “did you see the fireworks?”…Of course I did!

Lucy and I got up at 03:50am to get to our chosen location on time. We chose Mrs Macquarie Point. The queue was about 200-300 deep by the time we got there but we were early enough to be in the first batch of spectators let through. We eventually were let in at 10am and we took a light jog/run to find the best spot and it didn’t disappoint with a direct view of the Harbour Bridge and opera house. The only thing was the trees got in the way a little bit but considering it was free you cannot complain too much.

The day was hot and involved a hell of a lot of sitting and doing nothing. However we met up with two of Lucy’s friends who are over from the UK and spent the afternoon with them just sitting chatting and playing card games.

I would just like to say Sydney wins longest toilet queue – 1 hour! So if you didn’t need to go before you did by the time you got there.

What they don’t show you on the news is there are two sets of fireworks at Sydney. One set at 9pm and the next at midnight. The 9pm ones are a lot smaller in scale but just as pretty and are around the bridge not on it. The main event at midnight was amazing. It lasted about 15 minutes and was truly spectacular with fireworks on and around the bridge and Harbour.

Once the fireworks had finished it was a case of getting 16,000 people out of a space which flowed really well. We were all home by 2am!

I had a fabulous day and am so happy I got to spend it with my bestie Lucy and her friends. However we all agreed it was a once in a lifetime event due to the length of the day and the heat! I would highly recommend though anyone who has not done this event to do it once and soak in the atmosphere.

I hope you all have an amazing 2017!!