If you try hard enough

I've often been heard preaching that 'if you try hard enough you can do anything'. This has disbelieving looks from people telling me 'you can't fly' or 'not anything'. I guess that does need qualifying a bit, you can't seem to cheat death for example. The thing with death of course is that it is inevitable. My Dad (who is known for words of wisdom every so often) says death is the only thing in life which is certain. And he's right. From birth we are hurtling towards our ultimate demise, some way sooner than others of course and we never know just how long we have left. But I do believe that we can have most of the things we want in life, just not all of them because in getting one, you are choosing not to have another. I honestly believe for example that if I tried hard enough this time next year I could have £1000000 in my bank account. I could work three jobs, deal in drugs, have a go at prostitution, the list of seedy and illegal money making pursuits goes on. But I choose not to, the consequences and compromises are too great. By the same token I could have maybe not a million pounds but certainly a lot more money than I do now by dedicating all my time to making money. But I won't, because there are other things more important to me - spending time with Ady, Dragon and Star, curling up on the sofa with a book, walking along the beach, sitting chatting with friends over a cup of tea, baking a cake, blogging... all pursuits which make me no cash at all but feed my soul, make me happy, will be the snapshot postcards that flash through my mind when I look back over my life.

Choices. Several people have said they wish they could do something I am doing before. 'I'd like to Home Educate but I can't afford to give up work'. Well you could, you could have less money for holidays, new clothes, you could move to a smaller house in a different area, you could bypass climbing the career ladder.


'I wish I could go travelling'. You can, sell your house, rent it out to pay the mortgage, find a way of working as you go to cover the costs.

What I'm saying is there are always trade off. For every decision and outcome there is an opposite and equal compromise or alternative choice you didn't make. Then there is the cosy, easy option of not doing anything at all. It's about finding the path you want to be walking and then maybe realising in order to walk it you need to clear some brambles first, get some stouter boots and a decent map so you know exactly where it's leading you.

Our plans for next year are involving compromise, tough decisions and moments when we question what the hell we are thinking. There are the worries we have no control over but can insure ourselves again as far as possible, these include: the van could break down and need expensive repair work - we have breakdown cover and will have a small contingency fund. We could find ourselves arriving at a maniac host who intends locking us all in their cellar - we will have an arrangement with someone who knows our planned movements and contact details and will check in with them at least once a week, there is the concern of just what we're going to do at the end of the year - will we move back into our house? If so how will we pay the bills? - I've no idea on that one but I doubt anyone is secure enough to 100% guarantee they will be able to pay their bills  a year from now, so probably not worth worrying about for now.

There are the more pressing, more tough because they are direct choices we have made and actually if we just chose to stop the whole plan right now we wouldn't have to deal with angst though. And they are the hard ones. This week I've found myself waking each morning in my nice soft warm bed and wondering why I'd give up that basic and enjoyed pleasure. I've held a sobbing Star who didn't want to get rid of her collection of soft toys that needed putting in the loft. I've had long talks with Dragon who didn't want to get rid of bedroom furniture bought when he was born. At every point we talk about whether we are all four happy to continue. I never want Dragon and Star to remember all the tough choices they have made in the months leading up to our adventure as forced on them, made for them by someone else and out of their control. We remind each other of the reasons we are doing this, the upsides of every step and the reversability of it all if we change our minds along the way.

I think its really important to enjoy, not endure, to remember why we're doing this and keep tallying the tough bits now against the potentially amazing bits to come, to appreciate we are making trade offs and for every thing we let go of now and find difficult we will replace it with someone better, richer, more precious along the way.


It seems wholly appropriate to link to a book I've read, witten by someone I admire enormously. I think we should all chase our dreams, once we've worked out what they are and whether we *really* want them and are prepared to walk that bramble-filled path to get to them. If you are at that stage right now, this might just be the book to galvanise you towards it.