Jade Lee Wright's Blog, page 5
August 5, 2016
Rape, Slut Shaming, Victim Blaming
This is the best book I have ever read... and I have a lot to say about it and what it is about (rape, slut-shaming and victim-blaming):
July 14, 2016
June 26, 2016
Island Girl
I guess I'm officially an island girl.
For about a month and a half I've been sculpting out my new life on the island of Mallorca, Spain. It hasn't been easy, although the photographs I take will tell you otherwise.
Not long after the passage from Italy to Spain on the 32m motoryacht I called home for a month of my new life and world, I quit. I'm not really at liberty to say what happened, nor should it really matter - it just wasn't where I was supposed to be.
Quitting the boat was a combination of both the toughest decision I have ever made, and yet the easiest. On the one hand, the job was perfect for me. It was permanent, with a fantastic salary and it was (is) based in Mallorca.... so I would have been close to my man who is based here too. There were so many postives to the position but at the end of the day I had to make risky sacrifices for my overall happiness.
As much as I miss the stability of a job with an incredible salary both in summer and winter, money isn't a big thing to me. OF COURSE there's so much I want to do or buy that requires money (that mint green VW campervan....), but I had to to walk away.
In 2 months I had made more money than I had ever thought possible for me but even so the thought that at the end of June there would be no more money coming into my bank account frightened me. I tried to take a few days for myself.. catch up on my tan, finish reading my latest book, do yoga... but I couldn't relax. I needed to find a job.
So I got to work polishing up my CV, taking a ridiculous yachtie photo to stick on the front page and refreshed the Palma Yacht Crew facebook page about a million times a day searching for jobs as a junior stewardess on the yachts. I was picky though. One thing I decided had to be compulsory was that the boat must be based here on the island. My relationship was (and is...) to new for me to be away for the entirety on Summer. Like I said, sacrifices. I could have found a stew job on a boat offering a great salary, I could have been off traveling the Med and perhaps even to the Caribbean, but I wanted my relationship to work more. So, almost too conveniently, a job popped up onto the Palma Yacht Group facebook page in between my constant refreshing and it seemed that it ticked all of my boxes: based in Mallorca, family orientated with a few charters in between, a small and friendly crew and so so so relaxed to top it all off.
I think one of the main problems with my last boat was that I was thrust into the deep end way to quickly. Coming from a tiny village in South Africa where I literally didn't even know what a pair of Havinanna (did I spell that right??) flip flops were - to this grand luxury and downright crazy lifestyle.... it was overwhelmed me completely.
I snatched the calmer job up in a heartbeat and although it is sadly only seasonal which means I am going to need to make some kind of a plan to survive on the island through winter - I'm happy. The boat gave me a bicycle with a little basket on the front and a bell I can use to warn the pedestrians to get out of the way (more often than not they ignore me anyway. Bastards.)I cycle from home in Cala Major (possibly one of the most wonderful places I have been on my many traveling adventures, to Palma, every morning and evening. There's a special cyclists path which is such a great thing to have. It's just so different from back home in South Africa.
My jon consists of making up the bedrooms, setting the table, food and drink service, assisting the chef, window cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, stock take, waxing / rinsing / shammying the boat, cleaning the fenders, putting the fenders on and taking them off, unclipping the clip and adjusting the handbrake on the Bow, lines and MORE that has slipped my mind right now.... I am sole stew and deckhand. The experience I am gaining is so beneficial and best of all, I am loving, it. It's SO different from my usual 9-5pm desk job.. it's a new world.Yes it's tough. I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks and there isn't a day off on the horizon for the next few to come... it's exhausting. But it's also amazing. It's hospitality. You've got to be happy and smiley and chatty - and that makes my smile continue all the way back home to my boyfriend.
After work most nights I dash down to the beach and rip off my clothes, crashing into the atlantic ocean in nothing but a pair of bikini bottoms. After the dip I get back to the beach bar filled with a bunch of South African friends and my boyfriend passes me a gin and tonic. It is absolute BLISS.Like I said before though, it's not as perfect as it looks or sounds.
To be very honest, my confidence has taken a ginormous knock. I am not used to relying on others. I am so appreciative to have my boyfriend and i know without him I'd be lost right now. I'm just used to the comfort of my job, my income, my own transport and flat. My own TIME....
A different life.
The adjustment seemed so east at first but gradually it started eating at me that I've become so reliant on others. I know soon I'll have established a bit of savings and I'll be able to rent my own car (although learning to drive on the other side of the road is going to be a whole other story!!) and afford to do things like treat my boyfriend out to dinner or buy him little presents. He's done so much for me and he is truly such a wonderful man. One of the most generous, giving and kind guys I know. I just hope he, and everyone else that has helped me through this crazy life change of mine (mid-ish life crisis?!) knows just how grateful I am.
So that's me. The new me.The new life I'm adapting to that is so polar-opposite to what I am used to and what I used to write about. It's different worlds.
I'm still struggling to write.
Since my engagement ended and my heart got broken in ways I am only recently realizing and remembering (back then, I blocked it out. All of it. The pain, the suffering, the humiliation..........). That's a big part of my confidence knock too I suppose.I try to write - like now. But it's hard. I just can't bring myself to putting pen to paper anymore. Maybe I will one day, but for now its still too hard. My heart still has a lot of healing to do first.
"Love is like a spiders silk... it is within us, and infinite. From the spinnerets of HOPE, we can weave love again, even after the web of our heart has been SHATTERED."
For about a month and a half I've been sculpting out my new life on the island of Mallorca, Spain. It hasn't been easy, although the photographs I take will tell you otherwise.
Not long after the passage from Italy to Spain on the 32m motoryacht I called home for a month of my new life and world, I quit. I'm not really at liberty to say what happened, nor should it really matter - it just wasn't where I was supposed to be.
Quitting the boat was a combination of both the toughest decision I have ever made, and yet the easiest. On the one hand, the job was perfect for me. It was permanent, with a fantastic salary and it was (is) based in Mallorca.... so I would have been close to my man who is based here too. There were so many postives to the position but at the end of the day I had to make risky sacrifices for my overall happiness.
As much as I miss the stability of a job with an incredible salary both in summer and winter, money isn't a big thing to me. OF COURSE there's so much I want to do or buy that requires money (that mint green VW campervan....), but I had to to walk away.
In 2 months I had made more money than I had ever thought possible for me but even so the thought that at the end of June there would be no more money coming into my bank account frightened me. I tried to take a few days for myself.. catch up on my tan, finish reading my latest book, do yoga... but I couldn't relax. I needed to find a job.
So I got to work polishing up my CV, taking a ridiculous yachtie photo to stick on the front page and refreshed the Palma Yacht Crew facebook page about a million times a day searching for jobs as a junior stewardess on the yachts. I was picky though. One thing I decided had to be compulsory was that the boat must be based here on the island. My relationship was (and is...) to new for me to be away for the entirety on Summer. Like I said, sacrifices. I could have found a stew job on a boat offering a great salary, I could have been off traveling the Med and perhaps even to the Caribbean, but I wanted my relationship to work more. So, almost too conveniently, a job popped up onto the Palma Yacht Group facebook page in between my constant refreshing and it seemed that it ticked all of my boxes: based in Mallorca, family orientated with a few charters in between, a small and friendly crew and so so so relaxed to top it all off.
I think one of the main problems with my last boat was that I was thrust into the deep end way to quickly. Coming from a tiny village in South Africa where I literally didn't even know what a pair of Havinanna (did I spell that right??) flip flops were - to this grand luxury and downright crazy lifestyle.... it was overwhelmed me completely.
I snatched the calmer job up in a heartbeat and although it is sadly only seasonal which means I am going to need to make some kind of a plan to survive on the island through winter - I'm happy. The boat gave me a bicycle with a little basket on the front and a bell I can use to warn the pedestrians to get out of the way (more often than not they ignore me anyway. Bastards.)I cycle from home in Cala Major (possibly one of the most wonderful places I have been on my many traveling adventures, to Palma, every morning and evening. There's a special cyclists path which is such a great thing to have. It's just so different from back home in South Africa.
My jon consists of making up the bedrooms, setting the table, food and drink service, assisting the chef, window cleaning, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, stock take, waxing / rinsing / shammying the boat, cleaning the fenders, putting the fenders on and taking them off, unclipping the clip and adjusting the handbrake on the Bow, lines and MORE that has slipped my mind right now.... I am sole stew and deckhand. The experience I am gaining is so beneficial and best of all, I am loving, it. It's SO different from my usual 9-5pm desk job.. it's a new world.Yes it's tough. I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks and there isn't a day off on the horizon for the next few to come... it's exhausting. But it's also amazing. It's hospitality. You've got to be happy and smiley and chatty - and that makes my smile continue all the way back home to my boyfriend.
After work most nights I dash down to the beach and rip off my clothes, crashing into the atlantic ocean in nothing but a pair of bikini bottoms. After the dip I get back to the beach bar filled with a bunch of South African friends and my boyfriend passes me a gin and tonic. It is absolute BLISS.Like I said before though, it's not as perfect as it looks or sounds.
To be very honest, my confidence has taken a ginormous knock. I am not used to relying on others. I am so appreciative to have my boyfriend and i know without him I'd be lost right now. I'm just used to the comfort of my job, my income, my own transport and flat. My own TIME....
A different life.
The adjustment seemed so east at first but gradually it started eating at me that I've become so reliant on others. I know soon I'll have established a bit of savings and I'll be able to rent my own car (although learning to drive on the other side of the road is going to be a whole other story!!) and afford to do things like treat my boyfriend out to dinner or buy him little presents. He's done so much for me and he is truly such a wonderful man. One of the most generous, giving and kind guys I know. I just hope he, and everyone else that has helped me through this crazy life change of mine (mid-ish life crisis?!) knows just how grateful I am.
So that's me. The new me.The new life I'm adapting to that is so polar-opposite to what I am used to and what I used to write about. It's different worlds.
I'm still struggling to write.
Since my engagement ended and my heart got broken in ways I am only recently realizing and remembering (back then, I blocked it out. All of it. The pain, the suffering, the humiliation..........). That's a big part of my confidence knock too I suppose.I try to write - like now. But it's hard. I just can't bring myself to putting pen to paper anymore. Maybe I will one day, but for now its still too hard. My heart still has a lot of healing to do first.
"Love is like a spiders silk... it is within us, and infinite. From the spinnerets of HOPE, we can weave love again, even after the web of our heart has been SHATTERED."
April 6, 2016
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: A Book Review
Wow wow wow! Just finished reading the absolutely incredible book, Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
How do you actually sum up your favorite book??? How do you do it justice?
I had tried to read this book a number of times when I was younger and just couldn't get into it - although I'd thoroughly enjoyed the movie.
I have no idea what took me so long to finally pick such a gem of a book up and enjoy it totally (perhaps because it starts with her being miserable about her divorce and lately I've been battling my way through my failed engagement) but I am so happy I finally did. What an inspiring piece of writing! It was fascinating to read about all of the places I have already been fortunate enough to visit like Italy and Bali. In particular, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bali section of the book and it was mind-blowing to read about the Balinese healer Wayan Nuriasih in Ubud who I actually visited during my travels there last year. If you are ever in Bali, please pay this wonderful woman a visit. I have linked my travel story on Bali down below which has a whole section purely dedicated to Wayan and my experience with her. She is unbelievably talented at what she does and I was overwhelmed and a bit spooked out at how accurate she was at diagnosing things that were wrong with me back then! I kid you not, I had a lump in my left breast and I hadn't told anyone about it. This tiny Balinese woman took one look at me, shook my hand and told me straight up, 'You have pain in your left breast.' They were her first words to me. Spooky!!! Read to find out more!!!
BALI TRAVEL STORY AND MEETING WAYAN NURIASIH BY JADE LEE WRIGHT
Also just read Eat Pray Love if you haven't already. I wish it hadn't ended. What a book!!
There are so many messages and quotes throughout these pages. It offered me so much closure and peace and calmness with my current crazy life situations. There are SO many lessons and situations / feelings to relate to. Elizabeth Gilbert will feel like one of your closest and oldest friends by the time you are finished with it. I look up to her like a sister now and can only hope and pray that one day I am lucky enough to really cross paths with her. She is definitely on the list of people both living / dead that I would want at one of those fantasy dinner parties... right along with Chris McCandless and Cheryl Strayed.
One piece of criticism I would have to say is that I felt like the India section was too educational. There was a lot of spiritual history which yes is wonderful but I would have liked more of her personal story there instead of telling us so much about the history of what she was getting up to. This is possibly also because India is the one place from the book I have not yet been to and I really enjoyed hearing about her experiences in the places I have been to. While I felt that Italy and Indonesia also had heaps of history weaved into her story (which is great) I felt like those sections were more personal??? If that makes any sense at all. But that in no way reduces my mark of a freaking million out of five stars!! :)
March 27, 2016
I'm Moving to Europe!!
The last month has been an absolute whirlwind.
Right now I am supposed to be a wife. A barefooted housewife pottering around the kitchen preparing dinner for my hubby in a humble log cabin nestled in a tiny town in South Africa.When I envision this, I am already one month pregnant. Probably a son. I'd have called him Maverick (no, not after the strip club which said hubby would more than likely frequent... after a wave. A very big wave to surf in California. There's the surfer girl coming out in me!)Instead, I am more free than I have ever been.
"Don't ask her why she needs to be so free... she will tell you it is the only way to be."
I have paid off all of my debt, snipped up my account cards, resigned from my job of three years, given notice at my gorgeous flat where I can lie in bed and listen to the ocean roaring at night. I opened up my life savings and instead of doing what I normally do (buying flights to some exotic paradise like Siargao in the Philippines for a little traveling holiday,) I spent the majority of the money on training courses and medical examinations which I have now completed, leaving me fully qualified to go and work on yachts and cruise ships! I made some absolutely wonderful friends during the two weeks of training and we all became very close:
From there, everything happened so fast that I am still trying to catch my breath. I landed a job on a drop dead gorgeous yacht with what seems like an amazingly friendly crew and the next thing I knew, my one way flight to Italy was booked. I fly out in exactly 21 days (whose counting?) and have to work at the gallery practically every day until the day before I fly. Hard work pays off though. Always remember that.
Should it stress you out that at 25 your life is starting completely anew? Is it stressful that I now have no home, no address and will be living out of my suitcase as I travel the Med all Summer long (probably even indefinitely), working hard as a stewardess along the way?Maybe it is. Maybe it should be stressful... But it's not. Because this is what I have always wanted.
I am extremely excited to crack open the spine of my beautifully decorated travel journal and document my experiences both working as a stewardess on a yacht and also to focus my attention back onto the travel section of this blog. I adore sharing my travel stories and photos with people who are just as passionate about travel as I am.I love reading other travellers stories and become so inspired by their words and moments captured through a lens.
So I guess all I have to say is....holy SHIT guys! I'm moving to Europe!!!
21 days and counting.
Bye bye South Africa.
March 24, 2016
Baked Salmon and Asparagus Foil Parcel
Last night I made such an incredible, tasty, quick and easy dinner (my usual meal for one saga.....) I just had to share it with you all.
What you will need:
- Salmon (or your preferred fish)- Asparagus- Black Olives- Lemon (thinly sliced)- 2 Garlic Cloves (minced)- Salt and Pepper- Olive Oil- Rosemary- Aluminium Foil
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.Holding your asparagus spears in your hands, bend them until they naturally snap at the point separating the tender top part and the tough bottom part.Tear a generous piece of foil from the aluminium foil roll and fold in half, placing it in the middle of your baking tray. Curl the edges of the foil to form a square just large enough to lay your asparagus in.Drizzle some olive oil over your asparagus spears once they are in the tin foil. Mince up a clove of garlic and sprinkle it over the asparagus, seasoning with salt and pepper.Slice the sides off of some black olives - removing the pips- and scatter them on top and around the asparagus.Baste your fish in some olive oil and lay on top of the bed of asparagus.Crush and mince your second garlic clove, scattering it on top of the fish. Season with salt and pepper.Thinly slice your lemon and layer on top of the fish as a garnishing. Squeeze your desired amount of left over lemon over the fish to add some more flavor. Finally, put some sprigs of rosemary of the fish and wrap it all up in the foil to make a parcel.Place your baking tray with the parcel into the oven for 15 minutes (it won't take long for the fish to cook in the foil).
Remove and carefully unwrap your parcel to enjoy it! I eat straight out of the foil but you can remove it and put it onto a plate if you want to.
Bon appétit!
What you will need:
- Salmon (or your preferred fish)- Asparagus- Black Olives- Lemon (thinly sliced)- 2 Garlic Cloves (minced)- Salt and Pepper- Olive Oil- Rosemary- Aluminium Foil
Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.Holding your asparagus spears in your hands, bend them until they naturally snap at the point separating the tender top part and the tough bottom part.Tear a generous piece of foil from the aluminium foil roll and fold in half, placing it in the middle of your baking tray. Curl the edges of the foil to form a square just large enough to lay your asparagus in.Drizzle some olive oil over your asparagus spears once they are in the tin foil. Mince up a clove of garlic and sprinkle it over the asparagus, seasoning with salt and pepper.Slice the sides off of some black olives - removing the pips- and scatter them on top and around the asparagus.Baste your fish in some olive oil and lay on top of the bed of asparagus.Crush and mince your second garlic clove, scattering it on top of the fish. Season with salt and pepper.Thinly slice your lemon and layer on top of the fish as a garnishing. Squeeze your desired amount of left over lemon over the fish to add some more flavor. Finally, put some sprigs of rosemary of the fish and wrap it all up in the foil to make a parcel.Place your baking tray with the parcel into the oven for 15 minutes (it won't take long for the fish to cook in the foil).
Remove and carefully unwrap your parcel to enjoy it! I eat straight out of the foil but you can remove it and put it onto a plate if you want to.
Bon appétit!
March 2, 2016
What I Want To Do In Life
There comes a time in everyones life where everything falls apart. It's how you deal with it that defines you.
When my world was turned upside down I became an absolute train-wreck. I handled everything so wrong. It's funny how it takes a couple of months to realise what we should have been doing all along, rather than wallowing in self-pity and drowning in gin and tonics.
My fiance had disappeared. My wedding was booked and paid for. My wedding dress was dangling in my cupboard, the diamante's sparkle hidden beneath its bag. I had framed photographs that seemed to pop up left, right and centre. Cards and letters, memories of my life and the life I should have had that floated around my life in a bubble of confusion and regret.For months I wondered what I had done so wrong. How could this have happened? I blamed myself completely for not being good enough; for not being able to make him happy. I went through a colossal amount of self-doubt and I let it take over for so many months.
I don't know when it all changed.
Somewhere along the way, I got over it. Through all of those gin and tonics, the late nights dancing on tabletops and early mornings crying on friends' shoulders. Through all of those award-winning break-up mix-tapes I put together and ice cream tubs, chocolate cake and copious amounts of any kind of wine imaginable - I healed.Not only that, I found a joy I had never known before.A joy that is me.Over the last couple of months since returning from South East Asia, I have become more me than ever before.
My entire life up until this point had revolved around men. I gave up so much for these long relationships that do not exist in my life anymore. I cancelled my plans to move back home to the UK when my ex told me he still loved me and didn't want me to go. I stayed in this tiny little town in South Africa for 18 years, chasing after someone else's dream and never my own.I can't believe it took me so long to see that.
I have been in this oblivious comfort bubble, sugar-coated with fake love from men who at one stage or another go on to pursue their dreams without a second thought of me and my plans when I had given everything up for them.
It feels so incredibly refreshing and liberating to finally be able to focus on myself... to put myself first. It is such unfamiliar territory for me. Here I sit, in this beautiful little flat I rent by myself with the money I earn, sipping on a cup of rooibos tea sweetened with raw honey and listening to the sounds of my fridge gargling away in the kitchen.I never thought I'd live alone.I never thought I'd be alone.But I am.... and you know what? I love it. I love it so much and I cannot understand why I had been so scared to be alone for all these years.
I have been working so hard, keeping my head down and gathering up some savings to do something just for me - without having to include or consider anyone else in my ambitions... and just recently I discovered what it is that I want to do with my life. I think I've known for years. Anyone who is a regular on this blog will know that what I want to do will of course involve traveling. "Travel is life..." that is my life motto and it always will be.
Even before I left school all those years ago, my mother kept trying to persuade me to go and work on the yachts / cruise ships. It had always appealed to me - but I'd been so caught up in romances and settling down at the horrifying age of 17 or possibly even younger that I passed it off as something I would never do.So for the past eight years of my life, which is an extremely long time if you ask me, I have been plodding along, driving the same streets every day to get to my 9-5 desk jobs. Every day. What kind of a life is that!?
So many people consider that to be a normal life - and that's fine. It's completely your choice to think whatever you want - but for me, now, I have woken up. I want MORE.
I'm not just thinking about it anymore. I'm doing. I'm acting. I'm living.
I'm taking chances and taking my life back!
To work on the yachts you need to do your STCW '95 and have an ENG1 medical examination. There are plenty of other courses that you can do as well, but they are the basic mandatory ones for positions like a Stewardess etc.
I booked and paid for my course and medical exam last week.Next week I will be packing a suitcase and heading to Cape Town to train. The course sounds so exciting, with fire-fighting and first-aid among other things included in it.I am so ready for this change. I am ready to embrace the future and get away from working behind a desk... to see the world and meet new people. I KNOW life as a stewardess isn't as glamorous as it seems - people tell me you are basically an upper-class maid... and you know what? I'm fine with that. In fact, I want that.
If you'd asked me a year ago where my life would be today - my answer would be the furthest thing from this. Today, I should be married. In fact, I'd probably be on my honeymoon right now, making babies with a man that would have ended up hurting me somewhere down the line. But instead, I have found the most incredible friendships and support systems, I have spent my life savings on getting a qualification to work on the yachts and see the world. I am creating an entire new life for myself.
My life is changing and I am changing with it.
Last night I started packing up my life. I am simplifying everything, being ruthless and chucking away all that no longer serves me. And soon, I will be gone. Traveling to a foreign country and living the life I know I am meant to.The life that is calling for me.
When my world was turned upside down I became an absolute train-wreck. I handled everything so wrong. It's funny how it takes a couple of months to realise what we should have been doing all along, rather than wallowing in self-pity and drowning in gin and tonics.
My fiance had disappeared. My wedding was booked and paid for. My wedding dress was dangling in my cupboard, the diamante's sparkle hidden beneath its bag. I had framed photographs that seemed to pop up left, right and centre. Cards and letters, memories of my life and the life I should have had that floated around my life in a bubble of confusion and regret.For months I wondered what I had done so wrong. How could this have happened? I blamed myself completely for not being good enough; for not being able to make him happy. I went through a colossal amount of self-doubt and I let it take over for so many months.
I don't know when it all changed.
Somewhere along the way, I got over it. Through all of those gin and tonics, the late nights dancing on tabletops and early mornings crying on friends' shoulders. Through all of those award-winning break-up mix-tapes I put together and ice cream tubs, chocolate cake and copious amounts of any kind of wine imaginable - I healed.Not only that, I found a joy I had never known before.A joy that is me.Over the last couple of months since returning from South East Asia, I have become more me than ever before.
My entire life up until this point had revolved around men. I gave up so much for these long relationships that do not exist in my life anymore. I cancelled my plans to move back home to the UK when my ex told me he still loved me and didn't want me to go. I stayed in this tiny little town in South Africa for 18 years, chasing after someone else's dream and never my own.I can't believe it took me so long to see that.
I have been in this oblivious comfort bubble, sugar-coated with fake love from men who at one stage or another go on to pursue their dreams without a second thought of me and my plans when I had given everything up for them.
It feels so incredibly refreshing and liberating to finally be able to focus on myself... to put myself first. It is such unfamiliar territory for me. Here I sit, in this beautiful little flat I rent by myself with the money I earn, sipping on a cup of rooibos tea sweetened with raw honey and listening to the sounds of my fridge gargling away in the kitchen.I never thought I'd live alone.I never thought I'd be alone.But I am.... and you know what? I love it. I love it so much and I cannot understand why I had been so scared to be alone for all these years.
I have been working so hard, keeping my head down and gathering up some savings to do something just for me - without having to include or consider anyone else in my ambitions... and just recently I discovered what it is that I want to do with my life. I think I've known for years. Anyone who is a regular on this blog will know that what I want to do will of course involve traveling. "Travel is life..." that is my life motto and it always will be.
Even before I left school all those years ago, my mother kept trying to persuade me to go and work on the yachts / cruise ships. It had always appealed to me - but I'd been so caught up in romances and settling down at the horrifying age of 17 or possibly even younger that I passed it off as something I would never do.So for the past eight years of my life, which is an extremely long time if you ask me, I have been plodding along, driving the same streets every day to get to my 9-5 desk jobs. Every day. What kind of a life is that!?
So many people consider that to be a normal life - and that's fine. It's completely your choice to think whatever you want - but for me, now, I have woken up. I want MORE.
I'm not just thinking about it anymore. I'm doing. I'm acting. I'm living.
I'm taking chances and taking my life back!
To work on the yachts you need to do your STCW '95 and have an ENG1 medical examination. There are plenty of other courses that you can do as well, but they are the basic mandatory ones for positions like a Stewardess etc.
I booked and paid for my course and medical exam last week.Next week I will be packing a suitcase and heading to Cape Town to train. The course sounds so exciting, with fire-fighting and first-aid among other things included in it.I am so ready for this change. I am ready to embrace the future and get away from working behind a desk... to see the world and meet new people. I KNOW life as a stewardess isn't as glamorous as it seems - people tell me you are basically an upper-class maid... and you know what? I'm fine with that. In fact, I want that.
If you'd asked me a year ago where my life would be today - my answer would be the furthest thing from this. Today, I should be married. In fact, I'd probably be on my honeymoon right now, making babies with a man that would have ended up hurting me somewhere down the line. But instead, I have found the most incredible friendships and support systems, I have spent my life savings on getting a qualification to work on the yachts and see the world. I am creating an entire new life for myself.
My life is changing and I am changing with it.
Last night I started packing up my life. I am simplifying everything, being ruthless and chucking away all that no longer serves me. And soon, I will be gone. Traveling to a foreign country and living the life I know I am meant to.The life that is calling for me.
