Coincidence or Fate?

Three hundred pages, thirteen countries, two souls and a little bit of Coincidence – or maybe Fate.

Back in October I read a book that happens to be written by the co-protagonist in my own.

It’s a book about a t-shirt. A book about a bar. A book about Lao PDR. A book about tubing. And a revolutionary. A book about love. And adventure. About sex. And about drugs. About rock and about roll. About Wheeling. And about not Wheeling.

A book about 30 different nationalities. And the greatest party on the planet.

Paradise Found. And then lost. And then found again.

It’s a book you have to read and decide for yourself. Sakura – was it all coincidence or was it Fate?

Paradise Found

After all of the things that have happened to me over the last twelve months, there’s just no way I can believe it’s all just a coincidence.

Since that lightning bolt of consciousness struck I’ve had the most mind-blowing, eye-opening experiences of my entire life and I’ve grown so much – mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

All of the weird and wonderfuls, the incidents and accidents, the magical sunrises and the settling sunsets. All of the hikes, bikes, Buddhists and boners, purposeful path-crossing and the throw-away friends.

All of the tiny tweaks towards a conscious lifestyle and all the tottering backwards. All of the frisky masseuses, the dodgy bikini waxes, the lost keys, lost money cards and lost minds. All of the days of delirium up on the hills of Mandalay locked in the Dhamma Slammer and all of the emotions that rose up after I left.

All of it. Every single bit.

It was a story of stars colliding into one another; a trillion serendipitous moments that on their own just looked like tiny coincidences, but as the story unfolded, every star emanated in the form of a character, a glance, a smile, a word uttered, a move made, a feeling felt and they all played a pivotal role in the clever little script that is my life.

And it led me to paradise – the place and the feeling.

Koh Samui is where I crossed paths with a soul mate for the first time, learned some hard lessons in ‘all work no play’ and said my final goodbye to The Idol, my Grandma.

It’s where I founded Consciously Curated, which within a week got me a backlog of insanely cool clients, it’s where Mindless Mag really started taking off and the brand collaborations began. And it’s where I’ve started to design the next chapter to be exactly what I want.

The Power Of Now

Through it all there have been so many right turns, a few wrong ones and plenty of lessons learned, but the biggest of all, the overarching theme that’s danced along with me the whole way, has been The Power Of Now.

It’s a book I was handed as I stepped onto that one-way flight to Chiang Mai and I savoured every word of it while I lay by the pool on lazy Sundays. It’s guided me through my third onion, helping me see more light than I had before and making me want to take that light forward with me.

It’s the preciousness of time.

When I’m with the people I love, I want to be truly with them –  technology gets a time out.

When I’m working I want to be working hard, doing something I love, something that gets the cogs of my brain spinning at speed and my stomach squealing with excitement. It has to be something with a conscience, something that lines my pockets not somebody else’s and something that lets the world be my playground.

And the wheels are in motion; my Side Hustles are no longer on the side and they are actually hustlin’, the world is my playground and my time is glittering gold.

And this is where it all began – this blog,  after one day I picking up my digital pen to start scribbling. I just knew it was a road leading me somewhere and every post was another yellow brick laid.

This never really was a Gap Year For Geriatrics. It’s been a true awakening, a journey from corporate to conscious – and one that’s not over yet.

None of this is Coincidence, all of this is Fate.