In hindsight...

It's become difficult to believe how quickly this year has passed. I remember it felt like only yesterday that we were preparing for Christmas and New Year's Celebrations. Now it's all due to happen all over again. The year draws to an end, and we're all a little bit older, and hopefully a little bit wiser.

Every year gains speed on us, and the older we get, the quicker time disappears. That's why it's important to make the most of every day, to follow our dreams, and spend time with the people we love. It's equally important to be grateful for all the wonderful things that are in our lives. Our families and friends above all, but also the small things that we forget to be grateful for like clean water, food on the table, a roof over our heads, a good job, any job, education, freedom of speech, the ability to choose – to some extent at least.

This year I've been learning a lot about myself. I've realised that over the past decade I have focused on material things and keeping up, rather than following my own dreams. There's always been that inkling feel that my dreams and goals are not good enough. Now I realise that it doesn't matter what someone else is doing, I have to decide what is important to me regardless of the opinions of others.

I've made many mistakes by not thinking things through, and in hindsight I would have done things somewhat differently. I would have thought more before I spoke, considered numerous options before committing to serious decisions. Unfortunately I was blinded, and my common sense wavered. I hope that has changed. In the coming year, I hope to pay back my dues and become more satisfied with what I am doing.

As a writer, optimist and workaholic, I wonder about our actions a lot. I'd like to understand why we do certain things, why I have chosen to do certain things. Why I like what I do, and why I don't like what I don't. These things are important to discover along the way and they make us better human beings, more in tune with who we are and what we want out of life. I hope it's also something that will help me become a better writer.

The next several weeks are going to be about thinking about the decisions I have made in the past and where I have gone wrong, where I've made the right choice, how I could have done things differently, and what I have learnt from my actions. The idea of America's Thanksgiving Day appeals to me, and it's coming up this month. I'm going to think about all the people and things that I am grateful for, and try to show my gratefulness through my actions towards them. As they say, actions really do speak louder than words.

Stress, tickets and holidays

Getting organised can sometimes prove to be rather difficult especially when it's cold and raining outside and the only thing you want to do is snuggle up in bed, read a good book and drink a cup of hot chocolate. A nice thought, but just because it's freezing doesn't mean work is going to stop.
Six more weeks until holiday time. I can't remember the last time I had a decent holiday, one that lasted more than four days anyway. Over two years ago at least. So this year I am taking three weeks of at Christmas to go to Australia to visit my parents and friends.

Buying tickets has caused me more stressed than I anticipated. I can't believe how much the tickets flactuate on a day to day basis. Seven thousand, ten thousand, sixteen thousand zloty and more for an economy class ticket. Each week I checked the price was going up, up and up again. At one point I thought my holiday was not going to happen.

Luckily last week I found normal priced tickets at 5000zloty per person return via Frankfurt. Unfortunately from Warsaw they cost a ridiculous amount more which is difficult to understand because a flight from Warsaw to Frankfurt return costs approximately 500 zloty per person.

Next time I will be better prepared and book the tickets far in advance in order to make the most of the savings available. It's very helpful to use an agent to organise the tickets but it might be even cheaper to get them online direct from the airlines. The best places to look for ticket prices is skyscanner.pl, individual airline websites and using search engines to type in what you're after if you're not sure of specific sites.

The holiday is long overdue. I can't wait to relax and bathe in the sun. It'll be a hot Christmas this year. Now with the tickets purchased I can stop worrying and start preparing for my trip.