Fuck it Enough

My friend Anna Flinn came over recently, and we were in social media planning mode for her impending TEDx talk. We got to chatting and drinking wine (as gals do), and our conversation evolved to things we really wanted to do but hadn’t gotten around to yet. We’ve all got them, right? For me, it was launching a Without the Bollocks video conversation series, where I spend time with great pals from around the world, and we simply catch up on life, lessons learned on the journey, and then we talk about our deepest fears, all while drinking great red wine.   I have wanted to do this for the longest time, because I’ve often found that when people voice their fears and are willing to pull them apart, they realize these fears are controlling their lives, and yet in almost every case, completely irrelevant. Perhaps if we can just let these fears go, who knows what is possible? I’m not talking about phobia-type-fears. I’ve certainly got a couple of those. I’m talking about the shitty voice in our head, that tells us what we can and cannot achieve. I’ve also found that fears are usually linked to our early years, when others told us who we were and infused us with their beliefs. That’s the crux of where it goes astray, in my view. We get disconnected from our source. Anyhoo, Anna challenged me to do it and I said, OK, let’s go. So here we are. My first conversation ‘Without the Bollocks’ and what a lesson it’s been just doing a single video! I went out and bought lights straight after this. Doing video is definitely a new chapter and one that scares the shit out of me. But we’ve got to face it and do it anyway, right? Every conversation is going to be completely different, and I really just hope you enjoy it and maybe there might even be an idea that helps. You never know. If nothing else, hopefully it’ll give you a laugh. Anna thank you for challenging me to start, and please, shake off that scared little girl, you smart, sassy woman you. To all of my friends, I’m coming for you. There is no escape, but please read this blog – It’s Wine Time – before making your red wine purchase…. 😉. I can’t wait to introduce all of you to my world. My next video will be with my hubby Steve. It’s in editing now…. Although we won’t be editing anything out…. Big news in the next one. Talk to me about your fears anytime? I’d love to hear, especially if you identified them and got rid of them. Yours, without the bollocks Andrea   You can get awesome pop art images on Shutterstock. Thank you for reading my ramblings. My brain and heart are a work in progress, always. I’d love a comment if it stirred any thoughts or feelings and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone you know who might be interested or entertained. I sure do appreciate it when you do. If you want to connect, I’m on Twitter here, Google+ here, Instagram here, YouTube here, and Facebook too. I share loads of stuff, not just my own xxxxx

It’s 1995, I’m travelling around India, now in Calcutta, trying to decide if I go to China or Sri Lanka next. I left Australia with a one-way ticket – Melbourne, Kathmandu, New Delhi and London.   I’d originally planned to go to China after Nepal and India, but the Chinese embassy in Melbourne screwed up my visa application and gave me the wrong date. I had to get a new one but China wasn’t an easy country to deal with back in 1995! Not to forget, it might not be possible now I’d started my trip – it’s not like I could hand my passport over and hang around waiting for weeks, right? And it did take weeks back then… I kept trying to make China work, and one thing I considered is crossing the border into Pakistan and heading North over the mountains, where I’d cross into China. I would be able to get a visa at the border there – right? I was sure of it. Now remember, this was 1995 – a different time and it was a massively appealing adventure for me. Today, not so much. But then I saw an astrologist. You can’t avoid this in India. She said: I don’t know where you are planning to travel next, but there are mountains and if you go this way, many men will break into your room and rape you. Oh awesome. Do I ignore it? Believe it? Let it impact me? But then I’d be pretty stupid to knowingly (possibly) put myself into a situation where I might be gang raped, yes? I mean, that would make me a fuckwit. So back to the planning board and I head to my favourite breakfast place in Calcutta – great coffee and the bestbanana pancakes I’ve ever had in my life. I’m sure it’s still there. At this point, I’m considering China (via alternative routes) or Sri Lanka. I could fly to Hong Kong (still British at this point and the old AWESOME airport was still operational), where I’d get a visa and cross into China. Or I could fly to Sri Lanka, which was enormously desirable as an option and so much easier. Coffee delivered, newspaper opened “Tourists in Colombo will be Killed” – or something close to that. It wasn’t a good chapter for a lot of people in Sri Lanka at this time, but for me personally it was a FAARCCKKK…. But it made things easy. Off to China I was going and it was a whole other country back in 1995, less polluted too. It was my first miss on Sri Lanka. I’ve been planning to go back ever since – almost booked it twice – but somehow, it just hasn’t happened. Well that changes tomorrow. We’re off on a family holiday to Sri Lanka and I am completely excited. I’ll be sharing loads of pictures and experiences along the way, and thrilled to experience this for the first time together with my three boys. We do have fun adventuring together. If you have any tips, must-sees or shopping recommendations, let me know? Yours, without the bollocks Andrea Silhouettes of traditional fishermen photo courtesy of Shutterstock. Thank you for reading my ramblings. My brain and heart are a work in progress, always. I’d love a comment if it stirred any thoughts or feelings and of course, please feel free to share it with anyone you know who might be interested or entertained. I sure do appreciate it when you do. If you want to connect, I’m on Twitter here, Google+ here, Instagram here, and Facebook too. I share loads of stuff, not just my own xxxxx