ONCE UPON A DREAM; Life Goals

Ballet is one of my goals for next year

November is my birthday month and the time when I begin to make plans for what I want to do throughout the next year.  With the harvest of Samhain last week I realised that I've done quite a lot in the past twelve months.  I have completed the classroom hours of my Counselling Diploma and left college and the taskmaster tutor behind; gained a placement for my clinical hours; passed three extra training courses in Grief Counselling, Business Etiquette and PTSD Counselling; wrote new psychotherapy features for a new editor and a new media house; and went ice skating again for the first time in four and a half years.  Of the six major goals I set for myself this time last year, four have been achieved, plus additional ones I set along the way - and there's still time before the end of the year to achieve the last two.

So I've been pondering on what I want to do next.  Half-term being over, I went ice-skating again yesterday. This is definitely becoming a regular thing. We had the first frost of the season and my car was covered in white when I went out to drive to the rink.  I had a lovely skate and practised some manoeuvres - just forward chasses in both directions and glides, nothing fancy - and I felt like myself again for the first time since I started the diploma.  It was very liberating to just glide along to the music without a care in the world.   

Of course the ice-hockey players kept getting in my way and one of them nearly skated right into me!  I was on a circle, just quietly doing my own thing and chasses-ing around the line, when he very nearly slammed into me. He did that three times!  He did apologise each time, giving me a wink and a smile, but it still irritated me.  

There is some rivalry between ice-hockey players and figure skaters and the hockey players love to give figure skaters 'tips' on skating, so when one of them skated up to me and said "I've got a tip for you" I just rolled my eyes and thought "Here we go!" Then he said "Whatever you do, and this is very important, whatever you do, always keep your feet on the end of your legs!" and off he skated, thrilled with his own wit. It did make me laugh though.

I got chatting to one of the figure skaters. He has lessons in ice-dancing with one of the male ice-dance coaches and he was telling me about it.  It does sound like fun and is something I would love to try, but I need to find my ice-feet again first.  I've had a long break and I just need to build up my confidence, not to mention my strength and balance, before I undertake ice-dancing lessons.  

Its always nice to chat to people who have a shared interest. You never know what you might learn or what doors might open for you.  In the past four years the rink has taken on lots of new coaches, so it could be that one of them suits me better than the one I had before.  Getting some private lessons might be fun and it is something I am thinking about.

I have also decided to set the goal for next year of starting dance classes again, namely ballet, as I think this will improve my skating.  The two disciplines are  very similar and spending time in ballet class should help to improve my core strength, balance, turn-out, extensions and fluidity.  Ballet and ice-skating support one another, so it makes sense that ballet class should be one of my next goals.  Later this month I have tickets to see The Northern Ballet dance The Little Mermaid and I am sure this will inspire me to do all I can to achieve my own ballet goals. 

Another goal I am setting for the next year is to continue my psychotherapy training.  I want to take a Life-Coaching course because this sits neatly alongside both counselling and my writing and I can use it to expand both areas. I do it anyway in my self-help writing so I might as well get the qualification for it!  Someone I know from my clinical placement is thinking of setting up a private practice next year and he asked me if I want to work alongside him there, so this is also something I am considering. If I had a Life-Coaching qualification it would mean that we could offer that too, as well as counselling services. 

And once I have finished my clinical hours and got the certificate for my Counselling Diploma in the bag, I can then put together the portfolio of work to support my application for the MA that I want to do.  I'm hoping to begin that next year, in the autumn time.  It will be another iron in the fire.

So I've done a lot since my last birthday, and when my new solar year starts on the 22nd I will have a list of goals all written out, so that I know where I am going and what I want to achieve in the next twelve months.  It is important to know what you want out of life; to have a focus and a direction of travel, with a particular  destination in mind.  Drifting along has never been my style, because it gets you nowhere and you end up feeling like a victim of life, instead of an active participant.  I'm looking forward to another year of busyness, learning, achievement and possibility.