SHARING YOUR PASSION IS WHAT KEEPS IT ALIVE!

Some people go through their whole lives doing something that they love doing while keeping it to themselves. These people are happy with who they are and what they have achieved in life. They are happy just trundling along quite smoothly in life. Then there are the people who love their live, live their dreams out each day and share their passion with others along the way. That is about the stage where I am now. I have been living my passion out for the past 5 years at sea and loved just about every minute of it. Now though I am sharing my love for my job and career with close ones around me, and I don’t mean sharing with young woman in an inspirational sort of role, I mean sharing my passion and work done through the day with my Dad and close ones by my side. And I tell you what it’s such a nice feeling! Being able to share the highs and lows of your day with someone else, talking about the little things in your job that make your eyes sparkle and ignite – that’s PASSION! For me, being able to work on the ship and share my passion and positiveness through the phone to a close friend, makes me happy. I have a more balanced life now. Simply being able to merge my work life on the ship with my life back at home, this is now bringing a steady flow of happiness back into my daily life.

Keeping Your Dreams Larger Than Your Memories!

Have you ever turned your head around while driving a car even for the slightest second to see what was behind you? Then a fraction of a second later you are grabbing the steering wheel trying to bring the car back onto the road.
That’s what most of us experience at some stage in our lives. If you spend more time looking back at your past, where you have been, what you have done and so on, eventually you are going to slowly begin to drift of track.
A good mate of mine recently told me: “Keep Your Dreams Larger Than Your Memories!” RD On hearing this I thought to myself I have so many memories that all I want to do is remember them all, all the time. Then one day I woke up and realised that by keeping your dreams larger than your memories you are actually creating more opportunities for memories in the near future. Wow! So next time you decide to turn your head around and see what gone by, make it only brief because there is so much more that lay’s out ahead of you.

Being Respected For Whom You Are As A Person!

FOR WHOM YOU ARE AS A PERSON! Not for what people see you as.
This was a big issue for me when I stepped onto my first ship 5 years ago and it somewhat still is today when I join a new ship for the first time. Picture this:
‘An environment which is male dominated has just had a woman join them. She’s not joining them by starting at the bottom and working her way up, No, she is joining them close to the top of the pecking order.’
How do you think the guys below her would feel? I mean in today’s world the workforce is seen as a man’s world.
Many people think that men should respect woman right from the start. How that would be nice! But from what I have learnt from the past 5 years of working with men at sea is that the only way to achieve this is to earn their respect. Earning guys respect can be as easy as working together to get to know what kind of person the other is and also listening when each other has something to say.
For me, being respected for being a woman working on a ship full of guys, it’s totally out of the question. I have had to earn each guys respect one at a time and continually work at it. Now I could have changed to be ‘just one of the guys’ or ‘a high nosed chick’ but instead I just decided to be myself. It required less work from me and I was comfortable in the process. The guys therefore respected me for who I was and not for what people saw me as – a woman.
Everyone is unique in their own personal way. For some people it takes years to earn others respect and for the rest of us it just comes naturally!

Putting words onto paper

You would not believe how many write-ups I have actually written compared to how many I have published – 100’s and 100’s. Now I know how a writer feels before they get to the final stages of publishing their book! That is another one of my dreams that I would like to achieve one day. Putting all my write up’s together and creating my own biography. I know that it is going to take up so much time with collating everything into one flowing book, and not to mention the proof reading which will be involved. Isn’t it funny how English was my weakest subject at school yet once I left school I started writing my own blog. Word’s are like Gold! So powerful that they can have a changing impact on someone else’s life without you even knowing about it. I have so many stories of personal accounts I’ve had with young girls of how just one spoken word has made their dreams come true. All these write-up’s of pieces of my life and experience over the years has made me come to the point where I am now ready to write my first book. I have always wanted to write my own biography but have thought that I am too young to even attempt one yet. I have realized that what I have achieved and been through in the past 23 years is enough to start my own series collection. So keep an eye out for it. In just over a years time I hope to be on my way to publishing my first book. December 2010 is my deadline.

Change can influence self-esteem

Ever since I was a child I’ve always been strong minded and determined t o achieve what ever I set my heart to. High school was one of my biggest challenges as a teenager as I was not popular and got bullied for going to school to study and play sport. When I was at school popularity was clarified by how many friends you had and how many parties you attended. The way you wore your uniform and did your hair was also a factor taken into account. Image didn’t really matter to me much. I was happy with who I was each day. Learning in the classroom, competing and winning all the sports events and competitions. Times when I was alone, some were hard but overall what people thought of me didn’t really effect me, if I was happy then that’s all that mattered. Now 6 years down the track I decided that it was time for a change. Now I know that you shouldn’t have to change your appearance to get people to like you but for me I did this for myself. I decided for a change in appearance to one which has made me feel so much more confident with myself which has boosted my self-esteem. I went from a girl with long brunette curls who only focuses on her work/study/career to a woman with short blond hair who has a balanced life with work/family/friends/career. Life couldn’t be much better at this stage. I’m not saying that everyone should go out there and have a makeover, but more so ever now and then taking time out to treat yourself to a nice pamper session. Introducing change into your life because you want to can have such a rewarding effect in the long run.