Well not exactly but I am currently sat here on 2 January unemployed and living back at my parent's, so I guess it is a little different from last year. All my stuff has either been sold or packed up and I have almost said all of my farewells. With just four days to go until I leave for my travels, I sit here wondering - how I am meant to be feeling and what am I meant to be thinking? I have no idea. Should I be excited, nervous, worried or just wondering what the F am I doing?
At 29 years old, I have just given up everything I have worked for and am about to venture off into a big wide world (in four days - eek). I never thought that I would actually be doing this and that I was always just someone who would dream of doing it and would spend the next 20 years of my life scrolling through Instagram and liking every travel post that was in sight. I mean that's pretty much what I have done for the last five years!
But I am doing it and today marks the end of my nine years in London and what an amazing time that has been. I have been extremely lucky to meet some amazing people and I’m truly blessed for everything I have in my life. For anyone who has lived and worked in London, it can be exhausting at times. The long working hours, trying to fit in a busy social life with friends, going to the gym, the damn awful dreary weather and the daily train commute (is enough on its own) - it can sometimes all be a tad too much.
With this in mind, I left my job just before Christmas so that I could enjoy the festivities with family and friends. I had a very special visitor this year - my friend Lorraine 'Glitz' who I met in Ibiza in 2016 and has been a diamond to me ever since. She came to visit from Malta to spend a couple of weeks with me and to wish me farewell. Over Christmas we sang carols, ate our body weight in food and drank a fair amount of Gin & Tonic (OK maybe a little too much) but most importantly in true Charlene and Glitz style, we wanted to see 2017 out with a sparkle, which is exactly what we did.
After attending Hideout festival in Croatia in the Summer and having the pleasure of meeting one of our favourite DJs, Marc Kinchen (MK) he gave us backstage tickets to Printworks, London for New Year and well it did not disappoint, it was awesome. Dancing for hours with my best friend - I loved every minute of it.
With me leaving this weekend I wanted to make sure that I spent the holidays seeing all of my friends and having fun. There have been many laughs and a fair amount of tears but I now feel ready to face my travels and enjoy what life has to offer. Am I scared? Yes of course but fear is what keeps us alive. As I wrote in my first blog post, I know that my friends and family will still be there for me, sending me stupid videos, calling me for chats about life and supporting me through everything - and for that I can't thank them enough.
I feel proud that I have been able to make this opportunity happen and most of all I feel proud that hopefully I can encourage others to follow their dreams/passion. I want people to have the courage to embrace the life they have in front of them and to not be afraid of change. You only have one life and you should live it happy, doing what you love.
So as you can imagine, today marked a pretty big milestone in my life and although London may now be behind me, the memories will stay with me forever. As they say, as one chapter closes another one opens and I have a feeling that there will be many more memories to come.
In four days it will be time for me to go on my adventure and don't worry, I will be taking you all with me. 2018 - let's do this!
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