Chasing my Dreams!

#169. Mystery Trip – TICK!!

I am BACK from my Mystery Trip!! 😀 Well…that was well and truly worth the wait! haha…

I was sent to Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Island, Qld!!!!

Tangalooma Sunset from my room at the Resort….WOW!!

WOW how did I get so lucky!?! I literally could not believe my eyes when I took off the blindfold in the carpark – YES, that’s right I was blindfolded for part of the trip down, so seeing where we were headed wouldn’t give any of the game away! haha. Just one element of the awesome fun that has been the leadup, anticipation, and unfolding of the 3 days of my magical Mystery Trip!!  The months, weeks and especially in the days beforehand, leading into my Mystery Trip…SO looking forward to going away….but not having ANY idea of where I was being sent to…wandering just what had been planned for me, but being absolutely Clueless – SO MUCH FUN!! 😀

Keeping the Mystery alive…until literally the very last minute! haha

I will be sharing the (masses of! lol) photos, and a Blog in the coming days about all the fun, magic, and awesomeness that happened while on the Trip – (I am so, so tired right now I can barely think straight!!) haha its fair to say that I made the absolute most of EVERY moment I was away….and more!

#169 Mystery Trip….*AND*…a surprise tick off the List while I was there…#132 Parasailing – TICK!! off of my Chasing My Dreams bucketlist….!

Parasailing….”I Believe I can Fly!”

what a magical way of ticking these off the List! (along with sunset cruise, dolphin feeding, whale watching, and staying in a beautiful oceanview King room at Tangalooma Island Resort, Moreton Island, having so much amazing fun!)

Tangalooma Island Resort…Paradise on Earth!

Thank you SO much Billy (STA Travel Sunshine Plaza Maroochydore), for creating this awesome bit of magic in my life, which I will never, ever forget! and also Laura, Tim, and Christina at STA, who also kept the mystery alive, the whole way through!! I TOTALLY recommend this agency, and this man for all your travel plans – he really personalises your plans, and treats you with so much fun, and definitely not just like ‘another number’! 

There is SO much to do on the Island…this place DARES me to be adventurous! hehe..love it!

Stay tuned….photos and blog to come, in the coming days!

Anything is Possible….when you add a little bit of mystery and fun to the mix!

Its about the Journey not the Destination!

“Its about the Journey not the Destination” – Living life the ‘bucketlist way’ isn’t about ‘ticking something off a list on paper/a website etc’ like a to-do list that you check off, its about the entire experience –
what you learn/ what you discover about yourself and the world around you
stepping outside your comfort zone
discovering that you really are capable of more than you ever thought possible
putting more fun in your life
that worry really is pointless as ‘whatever is going to happen, is going to happen regardless of worry or not
how open you can be to life and its wonderful opportunities that present itself
how to experience pure ‘childlike’ magic and joy

..and so many more reasons that are personal to you when you experience ‘whatever it is’. Many of these ‘life lessons’ have been learnt before the ‘tick off the bucketlist’ has actually happened!

If you focus on the destination…you may miss the magic of the journey along the way!

The huge lesson I’m learning right now, with the awesome, fun, leadup and anticipation towards my Mystery Trip, is how much Ive changed over the last 3 years of living this lifestyle.  It is SO empowering to just LET GO, to ‘relinquish control’ of what is happening in my life, and to just go with it! 🙂 For my Mystery Trip that is kicking off tomorrow, the ‘old me’ (I come from a background of anxiety/panic issues as well as my disabilities) would have been going out of my mind with worry and nerves at this point, the day before I leave, wanting to take back at least some of the planning of it (I havent been involved in ANY of the decisions that have been made about my Trip, apart from obvious discussions about what needs my disability brings up etc…and of course my budget and how many nights away I want the Trip to be).  All the ‘what if’s – my energy levels, issues concerning my disability and travel/going away, wanting to take back control of knowing where Im staying (even what area – city/country/coastal etc) so I know for a fact that its disability-accessible etc, wanting to know how far away from home Im going (or even what kind of transport I’d be using…for all I know, I could be flying tomorrow, or hopping on a train…I have NO idea! haha), even to the point of needing to know what/how much I’m doing while Im away so I know that I will ‘last the distance’ energy and capability-wise…not to mention the fact that I’m going away solo, the old me would have been worrying about what to do if Im on my own and ‘something happens’, or if I get sick etc.

…but the NEW me, the me I have created myself to be now, is putting full trust in my travel agent and the discussions we have had, and in the Universe, that everything is going to be just fine..and that its going to be SO MUCH FUN!!….it certainly is, at this point! haha…I am LOVING the leadup to it! 😀  My biggest ‘worry’ (although its not really a worry, its just making sure I have enough options), is to make sure that I have the clothes to fit the occasion….as I just DONT KNOW what ‘the occasion’ is going to be! ooooh….haha.  I have no idea where I am going to end up over the next 3 days – but, the journey leading to ‘wherever it will be’ has been amazing to experience, and so much fun (my travel agent is also having fun totally keeping the mystery from me – we were giggling like teenagers on the phone yesterday haha – Im loving that he is really enjoying the ride, with creating this experience for me!) …that if I end up somewhere ‘awesome’ that would be an absolute bonus….even if its camping, or somewhere not far away, that will be fun too!

The big lesson here is, I’ve truly realised how much this whole Chasing my Dreams bucketlist journey has changed me as a person…and the new me, is so much more FREE  than I used to be….and that is awesome, with knowing how much I used to let life ‘eat me up’ inside of myself! 🙂

ONE MORE SLEEP…Mystery Trip…..Here I COME!! 😀

 Anything is Possible….when you open yourself up to the mystery of life itself!

Eye on the Prize – No matter what!

When you have a Goal in your sights, and are striving towards it – you may have setbacks and obstacles come your way. Dont Give Up…don’t let these stop you!  If you keep your ‘eye on the prize’, and keep focused on your Goal, no matter how long it takes, that Goal will be yours – just think how amazing it will feel, when you do achieve it….especially after fighting through all the setbacks you may have had! If your Goal is that important to you….you wont let ANYTHING stop you!

With the Sunshine Coast Marathon fast approaching, and that 2km finish line in sight in my mind (#145 on my bucketlist)…winter has also reared its head – and so has my usual ‘colder weather health niggles’ (thanks, asthma – yep, why don’t I add yet another health complication to my life!?! grrrrr…lol) – I keep getting shot down with having to rest up and step back my training, taking it a little more gently than usual on some days (but keep moving!), on more days than I care to count at the moment – BUT, there is no way I am going to let this stop me!
More training and no health issues would make that finish line easier to get to, yes…but all I can do is, get stuck into my more intensive training whenever I can; ‘turn off’ the worry that this will impact on my Goal (Im ‘cautiously worried’, as I know how quickly my health can ‘turn bad’…but I cant let worry overtake my mind); – and most importantly, have FAITH that I WILL cross that finish line, no matter what it takes on the day. I could sit back and say…’well, my health is getting in the way once again, so I will just give up and try again next year’ (for the Marathon), but no I wont….as its far too important to me! Sure, if my health niggles were far more intrusive/serious, I wouldn’t be silly about it and I would step back (which is why Im stepping back so often right now, so my health issues don’t get more serious)…but, while I still can, and whenever Im able to get out there and train for it – NOTHING is going to stop me on my mission to cross that 2km finish line on 31st August!

Anything is Possible…when you keep your Eye on the Prize!