One of my presents

DSCF9033, a photo by nicgee on Flickr.

taken with another present (new camera).

It's my new motto 'Ignoring Advice for 40 years'.

Without exception all of the best choices and decisions I have ever made have been against advice. Settle down at 19 with someone 10 years my senior, not send our children to school, head of traveling around the UK in a decrepit campervan for a year staying with complete strangers we'd just exchanged an email or two with in advance.  Move to a remote Scottish island and attempt to live through some of the most extreme weather conditions the UK has to offer in an off grid caravan halfway up a muddy hill, buy a puppy the day before moving to start a new life, arrange animals to arrive just two weeks after you do.

The fact is it will all be fine. And if it's not then that will be fine too.

Leap before looking, run don't walk, leave the trodden path, take the scary option, trust. Watch the crowd and then head off in the opposite direction. Life is for living.

Hurrah for 40, if life is only just about to begin I've already had a fantastic time hanging out in the wings before the curtain goes up!