Friday nights have always been sacred to me.  I used to work in restaurants and I think I got maybe one Friday night a year off if I was lucky.  Ever since then Friday nights have been my time to do with as I please.  Rarely has this had much to do with pubs, clubs and alcohol and more often have they been to do with nice food, tea and Friday night TV**.   Even when I lived on my own I used to look forward to my sofa, my book and my tiny little TV after a long week at work, although it has to be said it’s more fun sharing the time with someone (especially as that someone brings with him a decent sized TV)!

I keep this time special by making sure I never teach on Friday nights (there was a period last summer when I was asked to teach a pregnancy yoga class on Friday evenings.  I hated it so much I stopped after 6 weeks) and we rarely go out.  It’s time to give in to the exhaustion of another busy week, to reflect on what has been and to make plans for what is to come.

For a while now on Friday nights I’ve been enjoying reading Catherine’s “Fill in the Blanks…” which she in turn has taken from Lauren.  This week in celebration of a three-day weekend in the UK I’m playing the blanks game too!

1. The most adventurous thing I’ve ever done is…. Yikes!  I’ve never really been an adventurous type to be honest.  Jumping off and out of things really isn’t my thing and being on water tends to make me vomit.  The bravest thing I’ve ever done is quit a lucrative job to teach yoga but I think when it comes to adventure windsurfing is probably the only adventurous thing I’ve ever done!

2. If I were a pair of shoes I would be cowboy boots.  Black, calf length, (fake) snakeskin.  Rock’n'roll….

3. My preferred mode of digital communication is email. I am overly verbose and text and Twitter just don’t cut it.  I like to ramble off on tangents, similar to what I’m doing now.

4. I feel happiest when I’m teaching yoga.

5. A little dream I have for my life is to own a yoga studio on the beach.

6. The one modern convenience I could NOT do without is the internet.  Which in turn means I need electricity.  You see you cannot just have one modern convenience as they are all tied in together.

7. Music, movies, TV or books: if I could only choose one to enjoy I would pick music. Storytelling is inherent in everyone, eventually we would all make our own stories but the greatest music can only be played by the greats.

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** Remember when  Friday night was all about the latest episode of Friends? Remember when there was no internet so we didn’t know what was going to happen weeks before it happened and when Ross said “Rachel” instead of “Emily” the whole country screamed?  No?  Just me then…..

Let me tell you a story, readers.  A story about dreams and how, if you want something badly enough, wish hard enough and work your ass off, all your dreams can come true.**

Back in 2001, during a period of seriously bad ill health for me, the Ex and I went on holiday to Tunisia.  There was a woman in the hotel who was running a pilates holiday.  She taught pilates on the beach every morning and evening, planned trips for her students and generally ran what looked like a fantastic break.  I was a little bored on this holiday.  There wasn’t much to do and I wasn’t really well enough to do very much anyway, so I became somewhat obsesssed.  Not with the teacher as such but with what she was doing.  What a perfect way to live one’s life, I thought.  One day, I vowed, I’ll do that but with yoga.

Fast forward the clock 7 years and I’m on a beach in Turkey.  It’s six in morning and the sun is rising over the sea.  I’ve just finished my morning yoga practice and now I’m going to breakfast to cheer on the troops and carry on with my work assisting teacher Fiona Agombar at her yoga retreat on the beach.  During the course of the day I may be asked to assist during her classes, help organise trips to the market and the Turkish baths, teach Yoga Nidra, even see some of the participants on a one to one basis.

Thanks to Fiona’s wonderful offer to help her I’d done it. I’d made my dream come true.***

I make it sound so simple.  It wasn’t.  It was 7 years of working in jobs I loathed to get the money together, 7 years of battling with ill health.  But I made a vow to myself back in 2001 and I made it come true.  Because you can.

And  two years after that I’m here I am making a whole ton of other dreams come true, even though right now none of them seem possible!

What dreams are you making come true today?

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** Disclaimer:  it should be noted that I cannot make promises for dreams that bring with them bad karma or those that really are asking for the impossible.  Yes, most things are possible but wishing to rule the world or marry Dave Grohl probably aren’t…..

*** Fiona continues to be an amazing source of inspiration, compassion and understanding.  Can’t thank her enough, if you’re reading Fi, bisous xx