Kooklah- An Introduction

I started this blog as a way of putting my opinions and my viewpoint out to the world.

To have a voice.

I think it will also be incredibly useful in working out how I feel about something -whether a global issue, a personal problem or just an idea. I am hoping that what will develop will be a clear indication of my own values. I am also hoping that what I write will reach, inspire or motivate someone. Something that may pick someone up when they are down, start the day with a bang or make them think. I want to write about life-my experiences, my hopes and dreams but I will also be writing about issues I think are important. I welcome comments, questions and ideas. I am well aware that not everyone will agree with my views, but as I say- if we were all the same and no one was different, how boring would that be?

So I think, to start, alittle about me. I am in my early 20s, I am an older sister to two siblings. I love my family. I am loyal to 'my people'...of course this includes my family but this group also includes my friends. I love the saying that friends are the family we choose for ourselves, I think this is so true. There are those friends who you mesh your life with, who you cannot remember a time when it wasn't the way it is now, friends who seem to be in your most vivid memories, who you feel like you know them almost as well as you know yourself.

I went to university and work in the health profession and love my job, and next year will be starting in a position in emergency. I am so thrilled, this is exactly what I want to do. I can't wait for the challenge and motivation I know this new position will bring. Loving your job is so important.

I love-live-breathe music- I have to listen to it everyday, I enjoy going to packed out concerts, the occasional festival or pub/small crowd gigs. Music and its lyrics have always been a way to help me through difficult times in my life and to heighten the celebration of the good. I recently bought a book that is called 'Music Listography, your life in (play) lists', which under the various headings on its 159 pages you can add the songs that are relevant to those headings (songs to play at your funeral, songs you dance to, songs that pick you up), forming your own personal soundtrack. Which is so amazing.

I love to dance, go out with my friends, drink cocktails, clothes/styling/fashion (check out my fashion blog if you do too http://forthestyleseekinggirl.blogspot.com/), to watch movies and read, going on holidays, Melbourne (where I holidayed this year and a few times previously) and cannot wait to explore Europe. I enjoy playing cards with friends and love to write. I have written short stories and am aiming to complete a novel-which has been a long drawn out process. I am against rascism and discrimination and for equality of all people no matter their age, gender, race or sexuality.

Enjoying the beautiful gardens in Melbourne...

It's all about that connection...

It can be with family and with friends, but what often surprises me is the connection you can feel with people you have never met before and may never meet again. I think a great example of this is when you are watching your favourite band, and they sing a song that seems to define the moment you are standing in. And then you realise five, one hundred, a thousand people are all involved in this moment, with you, and each may be applying a certain significance to their own life.
Music is so incredibly important to me, I have had a moment like this where it felt like time slowed, the music swallowed me whole and the song and what that moment meant changed me. I was at the final Powderfinger concert to be played in Newcastle and they sang their song 'These Days' as the final song. It was so incredibly moving, this band have been around for as many years as I have been alive.
Their music is so easily relatable, i love these lyrics in particular from These Days: "This life well it's slipping right through my hands, these days turned out nothing like I had planned. Control well it's slipping right through my hands, these days turned out nothing like I had planned. Soon enough it comes, soon enough it comes, to tie us down..."       Hearing these lyrics, watching the emotions playing across people's faces and processing the thoughts in my own mind was so powerful in that moment. Our time here is short, we don't have total control over our lives. We all have responsibility and I think these lyrics reinforce how important it is to take our freedom and make the most of it while we can, which for me includes spending it with people who make my life better just by being in it.

I have some amazing people in my life. A brother who is 7years younger but it feels like we are twins, I am so inspired by him and the wonderful person he is. My sister, my mother and father are so amazingly strong and love life. I have a sisterhood-made up of myself and three of the girls I went to uni with. We meet up for dinners and discuss work, life and everything in between. It doesn't matter how often we see each other, the support, respect and connection is there everytime. To the people who this year have been there when I really needed it, who I haven't had to chase down to spend time with- thankyou to four or five of you I really appreciate it.

We all feel it. Whether someone admits it or not. One of the most (if not the most) important aspects of the life of a human is the connection we have with others. It validates, motivates, supports and challenges our very existence and who we are.