“True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.” – R.D. Laing

Hello again! Hope you’re all doing fantastic!
Happy, healthy, aware that Christmas is nearly on the way…. all that jazz!

I’ve been away from blogging for a while because I needed time to concentrate on getting my travels well organised. It’s been a hectic past three/four months.

Just to quickly fill you in (lol) we left our jobs at the grain plant at the end of May and have since;

• travelled down the Australian East Coast with my little sister and her boyfriend,
• walked part of the Great Wall of China,
• flew back to the UK where I was Maid Of Honour at a wedding in the Derbyshire countryside,
• had a trip to Barcelona,
• attended a funeral in Sheffield,
• worked at Latitude Festival in Suffolk,
• stayed with friends just outside of Rome,
• flew over to Northern Ireland to attend a wedding in the South,
• went on a short city break in Amsterdam where we went to Mysteryland festival (Craig Daaavid),
• did a mini tour of Singapore

and… now we’re back home in Moree back on the grain farm for the next three months until it’s off to New Zealand! Phew! (oh and I passed my driving theory test.)

Several months ago I was kinda complaining I was homesick …well, not anymore.

I did make some new friends though and got to see some old ones though.

Anywho this post is titled ‘When you want to turn your passion into a full time thingy?’ So we’ll jog on with that!

MAKE TIME FOR IT (Whatever it is)
My point of mentioning what I’ve been up to over the summer other than to inform friends and family is that despite what all those overly optimistic books and sites say about turning your passion into a career… is that life does get in the way sometimes. Sometimes necessary life stuff, sometimes fun life stuff.  Either way an incredibly positive colleague told me you have to make time for what you want.

So if you want something, try and make time for it! I’ve set aside mornings to draw more cartoons and half of Sunday to get some painting done.

Now that you’ve set aside time in your schedule…it’s time to plan what to do with that time!

PLAN YOUR GOALS
You might have set aside time but now what do you do with that time? I always start with research and reading. Although I guess you could always just talk to people too… hmmm… being sociable? *Sticks head back in a book.*
Then using what you’ve found out from others, create your own blueprint to achieving your own goals!
For example in the future I plan to improve my drawing and painting up to a standard I’d be happy selling them and hopefully you buying them!  (whilst also setting up in New Zealand.)
To achieve this I have looked at other artists who have already done this, taken up their advice about practicing art everyday, created a schedule and a list of areas where I need to improve.

I also plan to continue to improve my writing to bring you the best content I can; however I have been stuck with blogging recently, as I lost site of my goal. THERE’S NO POINT aiming for a goal you don’t really want.

This is why it’s always important to re-evaluate goals, whether it’s what you do for work, savings, fitness or any hobby that you wish to turn into a career.

CHECK IN WITH YOUR VALUES
An easy way to check if you’re working towards goals that aren’t working for you is to see if they reflect your top three values in life. I learnt this from the book The Life Plan by Shannah Kennedy.
Basically, you create or find a list of values such as friendship, affection, wealth, health, economic stability, adventure etc etc etc.
Make sure this is quite an extensive list. Then go through and pick your top ten. Then your top five. Then your top three. And.. your top one if you like.
Now every time you are faced with a decision ask yourself;

“Does what I’m doing right now align with my values?
Does it help me towards what I really want?”

If the answer is no, you’re probably wasting your time. If you’re really not obligated to do it, don’t. Put yourself first.

I started blogging because I wanted to share my art and stories about travelling with everyone because creativity is in one of my top three values.

Through my blogging I’d like to take credit for inspiring and helping my sister go abroad. Since then I’ve been dreaming of turning this into a full time thing.

Economic stability is in one of my top three too. I’ve had an empty shop for a while and will be working on changing that in 2018 or sooner.

It’s now time to jump back in with both feet!

So although this may not be the post you were expecting with a step by step guide of how to turn your pash into profit, it is the first step, my first step, maybe our first step!

I’ve had to take baby steps (mainly because I don’t have laptop or computer.)

I’m at the start of my journey. And I hope you will follow me on it (especially now I’m back on it like Sonic!)
Maybe you’re just starting out too!
Maybe you’ve been doing this for a while and you might find it entertaining to watch me flail, fail and struggle my way from a fat caterpillar into a beautiful butterfree. Or not.

All I know is that we are not alone on this journey. I have friends that are doing similar things and sharing their stories too! All unique and exciting! Shout out to others on their journey.

I have so much love and support for the Travel Beans, the Morrisons Enroute and not even finally Mari-ly & Argo‘s blog, even though I can’t read it as it’s in Estonian… fantastic photo’s though, and all awesome people!

So in the next few months my intentions are to share with you a few bits and pieces of what I’ve learnt over the summer from travelling with siblings to being a maid of honour abroad! I’ll also be sharing my travels of Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam.

I will continue with my Lil Big Sister Travel Co. posts as Beanie is still off traveling and I don’t want her to get in trouble (although there seems to be very little I can do about that.)
I’m aiming to post more little cartoons, at least two a week! And I’m working on another secret little project too!

And if you’re just starting your journey too I encourage you to go for it! You really do just have to stick with it. (I may just be repeating to myself.)

Here are my favourite resources and things I’ve been reading lately that have encouraged me to start taking the first step!

• The Life Plan by Shannah Kennedy
• The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss
• The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
• In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

P.s The cover photo is from Mysteryland, Amsterdam. Be sure to check out my Instagram!