Six Impossible Things

Well here we are. A brand new year all shiny and new and ready to be unwrapped. I started mine with a late breakfast of a sausage sandwich and a gallon of tea accompanied by my favourite occupation, leisurely speculation about the future. This year is a bit of a hairy-scary one for me. Once again I find myself staring out into the unknown. Lots will be decided, or at least the wheels will be set in motion, like the location of my first job as an ordained minster starting in 2015 (gulp). Will I be up the road or on the other side of the country? Will I be hanging out with students in some urban jungle or cycling between churches in some rural idyll? It all very exciting, but completely unknown and therefore, by default, pretty unnerving.

In the midst of all this I like to be in the habit of, as the Queen in Alice in Wonderland would say, believing 'six impossible things before breakfast'! Just when things start to get a bit predictable a new idea pops into my head. A sweet little 'What If?' and before I know it I'm off down some new avenue, sending audacious emails and banging on doors for opportunities like a woman possessed. It's amazing what you get when you simply ask.

This blog emerged out of one such wander into the impossible. Three and a half years later and I am still here infinitely the better for having decided to put pen to paper and start writing. That willingness to follow the impossible road led to a course in creative writing, winning a short story award, reading my work at a literary festival, publishing a book, seeing my name in print in a real life magazine, scaling the BT tower for a bloggers event and, most importantly, having the most extraordinary amount of fun.

It is amazing what you can do when you take your own life seriously enough to strive for what you really want. Getting up before the sun came up to write stories was the first step in a road of committing to the life that I knew I could have. One full of colour, excitement and adventure. I realised that most of the limits on me were of my own making and the options were, in fact, infinite. I credit that time for me eventually going forward for ordination. I would never have believed such an impossible thing if I hadn't taken those first strange and wonderful steps.

So this year in the midst of final exams and job interviews, being wife, daughter, auntie and friend, I'm going to do a little wandering towards some new impossible things. Why not, eh? I'm going to email people I admire, submit articles to sites I love, ask questions, read books. In fact I'm even going to start drafting an outline for my own book this summer when my finals are done. Yep, its adventures all round. I can't wait to begin.

And so here's to you in 2014, to the life you imagine and to believing all sorts of impossible things before breakfast.