My 26426

In my previous blog post I wrote about completing a bucket list, well more of a list of things I want to achieve by the end of the 2016. Well I thought long and hard about it and here is the list! Some of it may seem a bit random, but its all on there for a reason!

So my 26426...

1.Get healthy. (This mainly relates to eating a more balanced diet, rather than pizza and burgers all the time...mmm burgers)

2.Visit Rome. (This has been on my actual bucket list for quite some time, and it looks like something I will actually be able to do this year!)

3.Throw a coin in the Trevi fountain.

4.Learn basic greetings in different languages. (This is just to start me off, eventually would like to be able to have an actual conversation in another language.)

5.Learn basic self defense. (Now I don't know about you guys but whenever I watch a superhero movie I always think, “Man, I would love to be able to do that!” No just me?)

6.Finish one of my stories. (I have had so many ideas for different stories that I end up starting lots of different things and never finish any! Well hopefully, once I finish one I will pop it up on here!)

7.Learn to bake a lemon drizzle cake. (I blame the Great British Bake Off for this. I know my limitations on the kitchen, but yet I keep going back and burn new things..)

8.See a West End show in London. (Something I have always wanted to do, and never have had the chance, well fuck it, I'm gonna do it!)

9.Visit St. Paul's Cathedral. (London is literally 30 minutes away from me, but there are so many places that I have yet to see and do!)

10.Leave £10 hidden somewhere. (Love the idea of doing this. I would want to sit and watch to see who ends up taking it!)

11.Surprise my mum. (Bless her, she's had a tough time of it the last 10 years or so, just a little something to put a smile on her face.)

12.Have a picnic. (I've wanted to do this the last 3 years, but always managed to find an excuse for not going out and doing it. Well this year is the year!)

13.Get another tattoo. (Yes I'm sure this is on plenty of peoples list, and again its something I always want to do but I am such a hypochondriac that I always think I'm gonna die or something...)

14.Get my ears pierced again. (Now I'm not talking just another hole, I want the entire ear pierced! Fuck Yeah!)

15.Fish and chips by the seaside. (I have a lot of fond memories of doing this as a kid, and I would love to recreate it!)

16.Finish all of the Harry Potter series. (Read the first couple and I am determined to finish them soon!)

17.Visit Bletchley Park. (Again its not that far, and somewhere I have always wanted to go.)

18.Camping in Cornwall. (Always wanted to try camping! Love the idea of cooking some sausages and sitting under the moonlight!)

19.Put up a YouTube video. (I have been toying with the idea of making my blog posts into videos for YouTube, not 100% though so will need to give that one some thought.)

20.Loose 2 stone. (I am the heaviest I have ever been..It ain't cool bruv.)

21.Cheesy photo booth picture. (I first did this about 10 years ago, was one of the most awkward photos of all time! I'd like to try again!)

22.Pass me English innit. (I have been taking an English class the last couple of months and its due to end shortly. I would love to pass and see where it could take me!)

23.Learn how to make fire. (So I can speak the lingo and defend myself, but what if I need fire???)

24.Find a job. (I suppose..)

25.I would like a Max level character in World of Warcraft. (I did have one, but they keep doing expansions.)

26.Lastly, I would like to see in 2017 in style. (I always talk about doing it, but we usually end up staying in and watching crap on telly then go to bed at 00:15.)

Some of these little tasks I plan on making a blog post about it, so it can be something I look back on in the years to come and see what I have accomplished!  

Time for a Change.

For a long time, I felt stuck. Stuck in the same routine. Every day, work eat sleep repeat. That has been my life for the last...well I don't even know. Its funny how quickly you can get used to the same routine and lifestyle, and before long 4 years of your life have passed and you haven't really done anything! There's a big wide world out there, and all I have seen is a very miniscule part of it.

Now one of my own little mantras in life is “Everything happens for a reason”, its something I've found quite comforting during my adult life.

Fast forward to the present day. I had just started a two week break from work, something I had been looking forward to for so long, when I got a text from my manager asking me to come in for a meeting. “Oh great” I thought, my first day off, its 930 in the morning and I'm back at work.

The meeting went on for about an hour, during which we were told the company we were working for were making some cut backs. We were a team of 5, and we needed to become a team of 4. Someone had to go. There had been talk during the meeting about relocating one of us to another store, or if anybody wanted to they could apply for voluntary redundancy. As soon as I heard the words, I started thinking about the possibility. Could, no should I apply for it? Financially, we have never been worse off than we are right now. I had recently taken out a loan for a new car, the other half had quit his job and had only recently got a new part time job, but still I couldn't help thinking about the possibilities that redundancy could afford me. Now don't get me wrong, if I was to apply for it, it wasn't going to be a huge sum of money, but it would be enough to allow me the opportunity to take some time out and decide what direction my life was heading in.

After many days deliberating about it, I relied upon one of my other mantras in life “..Ah fuck it” and I filled out my form and handed it in. Was it the right decision? No probably not, but I cannot lie to you, the absolute relief I felt taking charge and doing something that was pretty out of character for me, was amazing. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I had to wait a week before finding out if they had accepted it or not. The decision was in...it had been accepted. Oh god, know what was I going to do?! The following 4 weeks went by in a daze, until my last week came. I don't think I truly appreciated the friendships I had built over the last 8 years. Day in day out, seeing the same familiar faces, hearing the stories about their children, their new diet. These are the people that I have seen more than I had seen my own family. That was difficult, saying goodbye to people that had been a huge part of my formative years.

My last day came and went. The weekend came and went. Then Monday rolled around. Ah Monday, you had been my enemy for so long. That fight to get up as a new week approached. The horrible alarm, the traffic, seeing everyone else's “Monday face”. But on this particular Monday, there was no alarm, no traffic, and the only faces I saw was the happy faces of Martin and Lucy from Homes Under the Hammer. After leaving school at 16 and working in full time employment until just recently, I had found myself at a bit of a loose end. What the hell was I going to do? Oh don't get me wrong, it felt bloody amazing! I woke up when I wanted, had a coffee and chilled. So was that it? Was I just going to sit here and do this until the money ran out? Then find some other menial job and find myself just as depressed in ten years time? I allowed myself one week. One week of lounging around, watching day time TV, playing an unholy amount of Sims 4. I figured, hey I deserved a week off? But sure enough that week flew by and right now as I type this, its Tuesday of my second week of unemployment. Yesterday was better, I actually got out of my PJ's, but I still hadn't made a plan. Now don't get me wrong, I still haven't got a concrete plan, but I have an idea, and that's a good start.

So my first thoughts were, “I should write”. I like to write, it has a calming effect on me, plus I have my blog so why not chuck what ever leaks out of my head up on there. Which is what this is. (God I have such a way with words). I don't want to waste this time. It would be far too easy to sit and do absolutely nothing. (It comes far too easy to me). Now when people say they do nothing, but they actually potter about and get little bits done, well I'm not talking about that sort of nothing, I'm talking Wren nothing, where I literally sit there and look into space, stuck in my own thoughts, and before I know it 45 minutes have passed.

I've taken some inspiration from reading peoples bucket lists. I've always loved the idea of writing my own list, but instead of it being the classic “before you kick the bucket” I've decided its going to be before a new year starts. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be making a start on this list, which I have decided to call “26 things for 26 years”. I plan on ticking all of the tasks off before 2017 rolls around!

In my next blogpost I will be putting up my 26 things, If you have any suggestion or ideas of how to help, it will be greatly appreciated!

This is a very scary time for me. No job and all I have is an idea... should be interesting!