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A crazy 12 month journey to become a more conscious consumer by severely restricting my purchasing behaviour. The challenge is to not purchase anything brand new unless I sell something I already own first. This is my 32nd birthday present to myself. I know, what the??

Ultimately, my goal is to find and express my own creativity through being more resourceful with my thoughts, time and money. If by doing this I can inspire just one other person to be more creative with their own resources, then the sharing of this experience will be worth it.

Read on to find out more About Me, the Challenge and why a Sideways Crayon. Don’t worry, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to come back.

Blogcademy Scholarship Application

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Have you ever had something you’ve wanted to learn but never been able to find the right course to take? A course that not only ticks the boxes of learning the skills and knowledge you are after, but provides a truly authentic experience in doing so?

I have wanted to do a writing course for a long time, maybe a year even, actually make that two, but I’ve never been able to find the right course. I’ve searched the internet, I’ve subscribed to various newsletters, and I’ve even gone as far as putting my credit card details in to pay for a course only to pull out at the last second. It’s fair to say I have never found the right course for what I was after, until now that is…

Blogcademy is a two-day blogging workshop run by three very creative and truly authentic females. While the focus is blogging, they cover everything from strategy to branding to personality to help progress your writing skills and develop an online presence for whatever field you’re in. They know their stuff and share this in a truly authentic way called Blogcademy.

Each workshop they provide a scholarship for one lucky blogger to attend. All you have to do is pull together a blog to let them know why you should win. Sideways Crayon is now five weeks old and Blogcademy ticks all the boxes for what I’m after in a writing course, so here’s my application for why Blogcademy should pick me…

You can check out more on Blogcademy here

Ever felt like this?

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I have and I’m usually pointing the finger with blame. But today I thought about what part I have had to play in this ‘emergency’? Turns out more than I thought so just to put it out there, here’s my plan for dealing with ‘your emergency’ in going forward:

First ‘emergency’:         I’ll listen and I’ll understand.

Second ‘emergency’:    I’ll learn and take action to prevent being in this situation again.

Third ‘emergency’:       If I’m there the third time there’s only myself to blame.

Sound reasonable?

What’s on your bucket list?

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This funky wall was started in New Orleans, by artist Candy Chang, inviting passers-by to chalk their own ending to the line ‘Before I die ….’. It got me thinking, my bucket list needs updating!

What’s on your bucket list?

Check out more on this awesome project, that I’d love to write on, here.

From little things big things grow

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On Friday I put out an ‘I dare you….‘ post. A dare to be different with your thoughts, time and money from what you would usually do on a weekend. I took up my own dare, here’s how I did things differently this weekend:

I took my airline meal and gave it to a person living on the street. You know when your given a meal on a plane that you just don’t want? On Friday, when returning from a work trip, I put that packaged meal in my bag and gave it to a person I found begging on the street on the way home. It cost me nothing, saved good food from being rubbish and the look on his face was priceless. Tick, I’ll be doing that one again.

I went carless for the weekend. Hardly revolutionary but when you take something away that you are used to, you have to think differently. I hit the pavement by foot or on two wheels (my bike), something I love to do anyway but when it’s your only choice it makes you think. Did it rain? Yes. Did I get wet? Yes. Did it matter? No. Will I be doing it again? Definitely.

I went phoneless for the weekend. My phone died on Friday afternoon and I opted not to recharge it. Remember the days before mobile phones where you made plans and had to stick to them? This weekend I made plans, I stuck to them and I was on time.

We caught up with friends we have been meaning to catch up with for months. You know the ones, the: ‘yeah we’ll catch up soon…’, then three months later you still haven’t caught up. It was awesome to see you, let’s not leave it another three months!

We went for drinks and dinner in an area of the city we have never visited. Again, hardly revolutionary but when was the last time you explored your own city? A different area? It’s amazing what you find when you turn a corner you’ve never turned down before.

While some of the above seem insignificant small changes, sometimes I forget the Paul Kelly lyric: From little things big things grow. We all know it but it’s easy to forget that the little things, the little changes, really can grow into making a big difference.

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So what’s this weeks dare? A dare to do something that scares me. Who’s in?

 

“Oh Captain, my Captain!”

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There are times in life when you just need to sit up and reflect. Sit up, stand up, jump up, do whatever you need to do to get up and look down on what’s happening in your life and reflect. For me, today has been one of those days.

Three weeks ago I set out on a self-imposed 12 month challenge to become a more conscious consumer by severely restricting my purchasing behaviour. The challenge was, and still is, to buy nothing brand new unless I sell something I already own first (see rules here). This was my 32nd birthday present to myself and today, I am reflecting on what is quite possibly the best birthday present I have ever given myself.

My ultimate objective from doing this challenge was to find and express my own creativity through being more resourceful with my thoughts, time and money. I figured if by doing this I could inspire just one other person to be more creative with their own resources, then the sharing of this experience would be worth it. Today, as I stand up on my desk  (My Dead Poets Society moment) I look down and reflect on an incredibly rewarding experience so far.

While I have learnt a lot about myself over the last three weeks, possibly more than I have over the last three years, it is really you as the reader that has made this experience so rewarding. Every email, every comment, every discussion that has been stimulated by Sideways Crayon has given me ‘bubbles’. Whether it’s a discussion about why writing letters is considered old-fashioned; making a bike rack or a birthday present rather than buying one; a colleague telling me his wife has taken back up the piano; what that ‘bubbles’ feeling means to you; an idea to start a new business; selling or donating items to charity you no longer need; or by joining our ‘One month to wear and care‘ event. Every single piece of feedback has given me ‘bubbles‘. It has inspired me and, unconsciously, you have become my conscience to stick to this challenge.

Today, as we hit the three-week mark, we have 454 followers and are nudging 2,000 visits to this site. So to you, oh Captain my Captain, I would like to say thanks for getting sideways with me to look at things in a different way.

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