When a Simple Dinner changes your Life!

You know when you think you know everyone? I don’t mean you know every single person in the world, but you think you know all the types of people in the world. You put people into categories as they share this trait, or that characteristic. It allows you to make quick judgements based on a few observations whether it be from their walk, their mannerisms, their beliefs and so on. But every once in a while there those who you meet that surprise you. They make you question your knowledge of others. They make you add a new category into your category system. Sometimes for the worse, but sometimes for the better.

From my trip last week I was lucky enough to have experienced the company of two lovely people, who I have had to create a new category for. Currently this category is unnamed and it shall remain that way as I feel it would be an injustice to how amazing they are. If you must, find your thesaurus and look up the word “amazing.” I feel this is an accurate word to describe these two.

Now, I am not one for fancy, expensive, gourmet dinners produced by the most renowned chefs who are so fancy in the pantsy they name their restaurants after their first name. Give me a jar of peanut butter and a spoon and I’m good to go. Hell, forget the spoon, I have hands. But during my trip to Melbourne, I was lucky enough to be involved in a dinner that I will not soon forget.

Cutlery? You mean hands?

These two people only know me via friend association, that is, they were friends of friends. However, I was treated as if I was a very close friend, even a best friend. At least that is I how I felt. My friends and I were there for dinner and we were treated to refreshing water, and delicious corn chips (including gluten free chips) with salsa as a starter. Pizza would be headlining tonight, and I’m not talking about your store bought, frozen, cheap imitation of what a pizza should be. This was to be a real pizza. Made from scratch. Even the dough bases (some regular and some gluten and starch free) were built from the ground up. Never did I realise how many extra ingredients were needed to construct a gluten free dough. But this humble abode catered for both. While the man of the house battled the dough, fist to dough face style, the lady of the house was making the dessert; ice-cream. Armed with cream, sugar and a whisk (among other things) this lady was creating this cream of ice from scratch as well. In the midst of all this, my friends and I were welcomed and humbly encouraged  to taste some house apple cider, made from the apples from the tree in the backyard. Never before had I experienced so many homemade food items.

Next, we had the difficult task of choosing, from a buffet of ingredients, the toppings which to grace our own dough slabs with. All your typical toppings where there for the taking including mushrooms, onions, mozzarella cheese (and gluten free cheese), ham, and gourmet salami. There were even some choices I had never thought of decorating a pizza with such as pumpkin, spinach and anchovies.

While decoration time is happening the room is filled with storytelling, laughter and conversations. I’m talking real conversations and not your extended and polite head nodding of acknowledgement small talk. Real conversations. It was such a refreshing breath of fresh air. I know it might seem strange to think so highly of this, but I have to say I appreciated it so much. Such a contrast it is to the kinds of “conversations” I have at home.

In between stories, the man of the house is darting back and forth between the outside barbecue and the indoor oven. Never have I seen someone care so much for the status of my food. Each pizza was to be cooked just right, and that’s exactly how they were done, and they were absolutely delicious. I was even offered a couple of beers courtesy of the house to drink with the man. I felt more than welcome. I am lost for words with how good it felt to have been accepted into such a lovely home the way that I was. Already in food heaven, bowls of ice-cream graced the table, and our lips. Never before had I tried a “Blue Magic” topping before, but combined with this homemade ice-cream all I can say is Peters or Bulla or Ben and Jerry’s had better watch their backs.

Don’t you just want to roll around in it? Trick question! Of course you do!

After dinner I was offered the sofa bed for peaceful night slumber. I was even given the opportunity to switch off the resident fish’s water filter for the night so that it would not disturb me. I’m sure that fish was not overly fond with sharing the living area with me. Upon awakening the next morning, a note alerted us that we were welcome to anything in the house for breakfast, including a freshly cut pineapple, grape, apple and watermelon fruit salad prepared by the lady herself. In addition, as I returned from my morning run, in unfortunately freezing typhonic weather, I was offered to use the house’s hot water shower and towels. To witness and be a apart of such hospitality, generosity and company I feel truly lucky and blessed. I have never meet the kind of people that I did  on that Melbourne trip and before then never thought these kinds of people existed.

On my trip I met many people, and learned many things, about others and about myself, especially from these two individuals. The experience made me realise that in the grand scheme of things, I know very little about people. It made me realise that some people are inherently good and are willing to help even when it might be inconvenient for them. It made me realise that generosity is out there, and that I myself wish to be more generous in the future, whether it be in giving my resources, knowledge or time to others. It made me realise that I wish to aspire to be as good an individual as these two people. They make me want to be more like them and aspire to treat others the same way.

If they happen to read this I would like to take the opportunity to thank them again. Thank you for taking me into your home and treating me the way you did. It was not unappreciated. Thank you for the great memories, experiences and stories which you have shared with me. My life is now richer from it. I can honestly say if there were more people in the world like you two, the world would be a better place.

I hope this story finds you well. Keep being amazing.

– Sash

One Path to Rule them All?

Today a friend of mine made a status about how someone told her that the only way to “get ahead” in life, or to have any chance at being anything is to go to university and get a job. At one point in my life I was told that too, and because I didn’t question it and chose to accept that as fact I went to University. I went for the sake of going. I completed a degree for the sake of completing a degree that I had little care for. Although what I studied was interesting in its own right, I cared for it about as much as I care about the ground breaking news that Today Tonight and A Current Affair spew out.

“Please, enlighten me on the important matter of correctly fitted denim jeans!”

Needless to say I did not pursue what I studied and after my degree decided to study in a field that I was much more passionate about at the time. And I studied in an institute that was not a University. Because I was passionate about it, I enjoyed learning about it and did very well in my classes. A friend of mine also completed the same qualification as myself but went via an online course. So as you can see there are many routes that can lead to the same destination. There is no one route. There is no one option. In this day and age there are so many options out there. The harder decision is choosing which path is right for you. Are you a more practical learner or do you thrive on theory? Do you fair well in studying full time or part time? On campus or off campus? So as you can see, depending on your preferences, you can choose the route you wish to take in getting you to where you wish to be.

I feel society may have conditioned this way of thinking. That the one and true route to be where you want to be is to complete primary school, so you can complete high school, so you can go to university to get a degree, so you can get a job (to pay off your university debt). When in reality you can choose from so many different paths. Say you want to be an artist. Do you need to go to an art school? No, you don’t. You can very well learn from observation or tutorials, or an art mentor. Are there benefits to going to a school/college? Sure there are. But you don’t NEED to go that route to be a great and successful artist. What about a business owner? You don’t need a degree in business to start your own. You may be a natural entrepreneur. You may learn from experience. You may learn from attending a seminar. Now there are some career paths that require a university degree such as being a qualified counsellor, lawyer or doctor and even then you can choose how you wish to complete the degree.

Here is a radical thought. Why not make your own path? Find out what you wish to do with your life, and spend the money that you otherwise would have spent on university on learning something you are passionate about. Learn from seminars. Pay to meet experts in your field of interest. Acquire a mentor to guide you. Buy online books, audio books, tutorials. Create your own path to where you want to be. The beauty of this approach is that you can choose to study the things you need  and have to know, instead of following a subject structure at university that will most like include subjects that make you memorise information that you will never need to know and may never use.

Jim Carey makes his own soupy path!

I think there is an unnecessary pressure that is placed upon people, particularly youths. That you need to do well in high school in order to be successful in life. You need to do well so you can go to university, get a job etc. If you fail at school now you will fail in life. Which I know for a fact is not true. Just to throw some examples out of well known people who dropped out of university to pursue different career paths (and for the better I would say).  Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Oprah, Bill Gates (Microsoft),  John Lennon (The Beetles) , Jim Carey, Walt Disney (Disney) and Abraham Lincoln to name a few. This is not to say that you shouldn’t care about high school or your education, because you should. Continuous education and learning and are so important, especially in a world that is changing so rapidly. You need that knowledge to be able to adapt to that change. If you stop caring about learning and if you don’t try in school and don’t commit to your education that attitude could carry over later in life. Not caring about learning in high school could carry over to an attitude of not caring about learning in any area and that will be so tragic and detrimental to your life.

So I strongly believe there are definitely more ways than one to get to where you wish. Some paths may be short and straight, others may take the scenic route, but they all end up in the same place. The one big difference will be the attitude you have when you get to that end. Let’s hope you enjoyed the ride.

– Sash

To feel alive!

Nothing makes me feel more alive than running. When I am running, I am free. I am worry free. I am care free. Nothing else matters at that precise moment because I am so in the moment that there is no room for anything else. I’m sure many have experienced this feeling, maybe not with running but with something else. You know that feeling when something you are passionate about has your full focus, your full attention? You are so enticed by it you forget what time it is. You are so entranced by it that you forget to eat. You are so in the moment that you forget to sleep. You might even forget what day it is. Loud sounds become dull hums. Your vision becomes clearer than normal. You see things that you have never seen before. You notice things that you have never noticed before. All of a sudden those little things that plague your mind day to day become non-existent. You are in the moment. You are alive, in that delicious moment.

“I LOVE THIS DELICIOUS MOMENT!”

Running allows me to access this state of mind, especially when I am running hard. If you are familiar with running or any physical activity you will know that more often than not, your mind determines the outcome of your success or failure. Your mind will always give up before your body does. It is your job to train your mind to push the body where it has never gone before. And it is your attitude that will drive your mind to push the body. If you start a training session all sulky, thinking about how long this chore is going to take, then you are more than likely going to have a terrible session. You have walked in with a negative mind set, and have set yourself up for failure because you are more likely to quit when it starts getting hard. However, if you walk into your session excited to hit a new personal best, you are more likely going to have a great session because  when it starts getting hard, you will push yourself out of your comfort zone. And what lies beyond your comfort zone? LIFE!

Now this can apply to anything that you do. Think about your job. If it’s Monday and you have Friday on your mind, there is a good chance that you are going to have a less than stellar week. You are going to come to work, be negative,  and do a worse job than you otherwise would. Then you will  sulk at the end of the day because you have four more days of sulking before you can self medicate yourself with something that will help you forget your previous week of sulking, so you can proceed to the next week (which you hope won’t consist of more sulking). Rinse repeat. However, let’s say you walk into work with a mindset that you are going to smash through today’s workload in record time, so you can enjoy the coming weekend knowing that you earned that sweet, sweet time off. Chances are you might feel a little better about the week, and more importantly, with yourself.

Running is the soil for which my positive attitude seed can sprout and flourish. When I can feel my heart beating out of my chest, when I feel my legs are on fire is when I know that alive state of mind is about to kick in (extra alive points for when it starts raining or storming).  I look for that pain and discomfort because I know what is to follow. If I give up because it starts getting hard, or because my legs hurt, or because I can’t breathe then I know I am not truly alive because I am not pushing myself. If I know I am not pushing myself then I am not being the strongest version of myself. I need to push myself because that is the attitude I need to feel alive. I need that attitude to carry over in all aspects of my life in order to be the strongest me. If I do not push myself right now, I will not push myself later in other life tasks. There is no better time than right now, when I’m in pain and thoughts of stopping kick in. In order to live you must move and keep moving.  But in order to be alive, you must move, and move in a forwards direction. If you are not moving, you are not alive, and if you are not alive then what are you?

So what makes you feel alive? You should do it right now!

“I’M ALIVE!”

– Sash