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When Scott Young wrote about his 20th birthday, he talked about his experiences over the past year; the achievements and the bumps, followed by his goals/plans for the next 12 months.
The Past
When I first came to University, I was blown away within the first week, even, by how much flow I felt. I went to two meditation sessions a week, learned to Unicycle, made four friends and joined a Wiccan Moot and Druid Grove.
I felt at the time that it had been the best year of my life. Then second year came, not without its trials and tribulations, but more focused on my spirituality as I immersed myself in the Pagan life of Brighton, co-ran two societies, started this blog and discovered Shivanata.
And now I’m going to just talk in lists to write about my last year, things that I have achieved, experienced and some future goals.
An Overview:
In the last 12 months, I have:
- Attended a handfasting and four pagan Sabbat rituals [two wiccan, two druid].
- Started one society and took over a second
- Visited Cornwall and Yorkshire
- Set up a little online shop
- Had my first hang-over
- Began exercising
- Moved blogs
- Vastly improved my cooking skills
Alongside those events, I’ve made progress in the various areas of:
- Relationships. At the end of my second year of University, I had four solid friends of my own age in Brighton. I also have older friends in the Pagan and Blogging communities. My other half and I spent three and a half months apart, which was also an interesting learning curve. I’ve learned about true support and how friendship can grow. This week also celebrates three years and seven months with my other half, which has always been a strong source of learning.
- Psychology. I passed second year of my degree and am planning a dissertation on the Psychology of Language. I have three volunteering posts – one on a youth panel, a second working with an online network and a third working with mentally-disabled people.
- Spirituality. I attended my first Druid Handfasting, a few Druid and Wiccan rituals and the local Pagan Pub Moot. My friend and I set up the Sussex Spiritual Society, where we had speakers, singing lessons, co-led a ritual for White Night and ate a lot of cake. I also took over the Creative Meditation and Buddhism Society, leading a couple of meditations. In addition to this, I did my levels I and II in Usui Reiki.
- Social. I became friendly with more people on my course and though I only went out six times in the whole year, I had my first ever hangover and dropped a friend when I fell on my head. It’s been a year of experiences.
- Personal Development. I gave up chocolate for three weeks (I just had to mention that). I read 37 books varying from Buddhism, study-skills, happiness and writing to romance novels, minimalism, a play by Oscar Wilde and autobiographies. I currently have seven that are in-progress too. I must have read over 200 blog posts and written well over 150,000 words.
- Blog. Across my 4 main blogs, I’ve written almost 150 posts as I tried to seek the consistency I was looking for.
- Writing. On that note, I wrote a blog post for PsychFutures, wrote a 50,000 word novel in 29 days, made the shortlist of a poetry competition, wrote a poem that’ll be published in December, and am crafting my second novel, currently at 40,000 words.
And having just picked up the post, I can add that I’m going to have another poem published [second one this year] in an anthology. Overall then, it’s been a good couple of years. This year, I’ve a few plans in motion already.
Looking Forward
- Volunteering. As a volunteer for Care Co-ops, I’ll undergo training in safeguarding and basic counselling skills. Also, as part of the youth panel I joined in March, I’m booked on training days for:
- equality and diversity
- refugees & asylum seeker project
- YMCA induction
- Social. I’ve plans for a belated-birthday celebration when I return to Brighton, a dinner-date to catch up with a friend, an invite to meet a friend from Southampton and THREE gigs to go to with friends. It’s going to be fun.
- Spirituality. I’d like to celebrate each Sabbat, regardless of other things going on and see both the Wiccan and Druid circles at least three times in the year. I’m hoping to re-develop a morning practice, like I had back in 2004. I’d also like to bring that focus of this blog back to spirituality a little. I’m also hoping to make it to Buddfafield festival next July.
- Wings to Soar. The September will mark the first steps for my two services in the soaring shop, which I hope will be a success. I’m interested in expanding that business too.
- Job. I’d like to get a paid job of some kind – even if only a part-time job for a couple of weeks. If I only have a paid job for a short time, I’d like to gain some more useful voluntary experience during the year as well.
- Relationships. I’m content to just nourish the friendships I’ve made this year, though I know I’ll meet new people and I’m also open to that. Running two societies leads to meeting people, and I’ve been nominated to represent Brighton’s Youth Panel up in London, thus shall meet people.
- Online Community. I’m aiming to get more involved in the online community with my PsychFutures post, a place in Fey’s Spirit Tribe and when NaNoWriMo comes around in November.
- Education. I’m maintaining a 2:1 But wanted a higher grade in it. Thus, this year I’ll be focusing on getting higher grades in at least my dissertation. I’m living with another psychology student, so we should be able to help each other out.
- Writing. I’m looking into joining a writing club and at minimum want to attend one of the NaNoWriMo meet ups in November. I’m going to enter some poetry competitions and will possibly enter a few chapters of my story once it’s edited.
- Miscellaneous. During the last year, I’ve started to do yoga, meditate, attend a pub moot and learn bits of Japanese from my housemates. This year, I want to get back involved in the circus society from my first year and perhaps brush up on my German or Irish language skills.
Today I have flapjacks and a lot of love – what better way to begin my twenties?
In Light,
Rose
Wings of Flight 
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