A Challenge - Sweet Ideas: 50 things to blog about. Challenge 1.

Yesterday, I was thinking, how slack I had been with my Photo-A-Day challenge when Fat Mum Slim posted a new challenge sweet ideas 50 things to blog about, and Angie my soul sister said the challenge is on.....so I am going to give it ago.

I hope that I can keep to this one, as I love so many of the ideas.

Here is Chantelles List....

And beginning with

1. That thing that happened in high school that pretty much changed your life forever

WOW, this one is a tough one, having finished school so long ago....there were many life changing moments for me in school. School was certainly not a place filled with happy memories for me. But funny I would say that I loved School.

I think the most important "moment" for me is really that moment when I realised that my HSC was really not that important. My kids are going to read this one day and ponder on that one. No the real lesson and one that I have lived my life on from that moment. 

"is do what you love and love what you do, if it's not making me happy then it's not worth doing, you can achieve anything you believe in and set your heart on"

OK, so let me set the scene... the year was 1984

I changed schools that year the beginning of  year 11. It was a huge thing for me. The school I had been attending was founded in 1978, and my year only being the 6th year to go through the school, it was new and exciting, I loved school not because of the friends, ( I was very much a loner) it was due to my classes and my love of learning. But as the school only went to year 10 there was no alternative at the time, I wanted to continue my studies, I had no intention of leaving school. I had so much more I wanted to learn, I had big dreams, and all of those at the time involved lots more learning and study. So going to a new school that had been around since 1959, with its more rigid routine's and "older" teaching styles, was really a shock to my system. I found myself struggling. I went from loving school to hating school - and mainly due to one teacher in particular. I was failing ART - my be all and end all subject, I enjoyed the other subjects don't get me wrong, but I love my creative side and art history the best. I sought out help from my old School teachers - they also were shocked with my results, but sadly were not shocked in the teacher administering the results. This was apparently happening to other passed students of theirs. So after much discussions with teachers, parents and principals. CATHOLIC School policies....I really questioned them at the time, and the teacher in particular was also a HSC marker....so you KNOW the sun shone there - I Was told to pull up my socks (yes those where the words used), get my act together and work harder. I TRIED, I REALLY DID, but I just couldn't go from A's to F's and deal with it, my happiness was leading me into a dark place.

So after much soul searching and some amazing parents who said they would support me no matter what I chose. I chose TO BE HAPPY and live a happy life....

1977, Year 4, 9 years old

So there have been many roads in my life that I have travelled, and when the fork comes, I always choose the path that at the time that makes me the most happiest - I truly believe that fork in the road came when I needed it and my life has changed forever due to it.

I know there is more to the story above, that I haven't shared it was a very hard time in my life but it is one of those defining moments. I know it was almost 6 years later before I picked up my charcoals and drew again, it had that much of an affect on my creative side. But it was also another defining moment of my life when I became a mother that allowed me to get past the darkness that I had avoided from that time.

Have you had a life changing moment? Perhaps at the time you never realised it but looking back you do now.