From the mouths of babes - 11th November 2013

Day 1: I've always loved a good hat/head dress 

When I was six my Nanna asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I vividly remember answering, "I want to change the world." They were lofty dreams for a six year old, but today for the first time since that moment 30 years ago, I finally feel like I am making a real and positive change in the world. It's only a small difference, but it's still a difference.
As many of you know, I'm currently in Uganda taking part in The Hunger Project & Business Chicks Leadership and Immersion Program. Myself and 20 other women raised over $10,000 each for the charity and its work in driving sustainable change and development amongst the world's poorest. Today we had our first insight into the impact our fundraising will have on the lives of woman and their families in Uganda. The impact is powerful.
Here is a snapshot of how the lives of those engaging with The Hunger Project (THP) through their 11 epicentres across Uganda are being changed for the better:

• 85% now have sufficient food in their homes
• 78% have attended HIV/AIDS counselling sessions and 53% have been tested
• 80% of children at the Epicentres are vaccinated
• 72% of households now have a mozzie net (as malaria kills more people than HIV/AIDS)
• 70% of pregnant woman seek antenatal classes

The biggest change these people have been required to make to to achieve the above is a change in mindset. They've needed to let go of old ways, habits and thinking based on a 'this is how we've always done it' mentality. Letting go of the things holding them back has helped change their lives for the better.
It's only a Day 1 but I'm already astounded by the impact this program is having on my life. I'm taking up the challenge to let go of the well-formed habits holding me back, and acting as barriers to change. I'm trying to imagine my life if I open it up to all the possibilities. Most of all, I'm relishing the opportunity to make the dream from the six-year-old me a reality. It's not everyday you get the opportunity to do that!

For someone has elected not to have kids, I am in severe danger of trying to bring a gorgeous child home!

Beyond The Comfort Zone - 3rd June 2013

And the running begins

This is as famous as I will ever get. It's my Kim Kardashian moment (minus the sex tape). My gorgeous friend Jess Fell has written a profile piece on my crazy plan to raise $10k for women struggling with hunger and poverty in Uganda. I love that she found the comedy a midst the madness of my plan!

Beyond The Comfort Zone

By Jessica Fell

Patrice Gibbons hopes her selfishness can help raise women out of hunger in Africa. It’s a big call.

She is one of 22 women who have committed to raising $10,000 – as part of The Hunger Project and Business Chicks Leadership and Immersion Project –  to help women in communities in Uganda raise themselves and their families out of poverty.

“I am the most selfish person I know . . . [but] you’ve got to be pretty selfish to raise $10,000. I’ve got to go to all my friends, who I love and adore and ask them for money to support me on this project to try and make a difference” said the 36 year-old Communications Manager.

Patrice has guaranteed the $10,000 to the trip organisers.  If she can't raise it, she’ll have to pay it from her back pocket. She has six months to fundraise and knows how to pitch herself. 

Patrice has been known to have Coke and chocolate for breakfast. She does not run, ever. Yet she spent Saturday night plying a friend with wine for instruction on how to run, because she has registered to run 14 kilometres in four months time. She knows her friends will pay to see her struggle up Sydney's Heartbreak Hill at the City2Surf in August.  It’s the first strategy in her fundraising plan.

"I am motivated by the fear of failure. In the next six months I am going to spend a lot of time outside my comfort zone . . . I want to feel like I've achieved something I could never, ever do," she said. "Not raising the $10,000 means I've failed. I don't like to commit to anything unless I can do it well", she said.  She even set up a spreadsheet before committing to the project, detailing every possible avenue for fundraising.

It won't be her first trip to Uganda. At 25, Patrice dumped her job as a journalist at The Financial Review and left Sydney with a backpack and $4,000. She continent-hopped and worked in London as a writer and producer for almost seven years, before returning to Sydney in 2009, via Africa. 

Adjusting to life back in Sydney was the launching pad for The Perspective Project (http://myperspectiveproject.blogspot.com.au/) – Patrice’s first step out of her post-travel slump. While she knew her life was great on paper, she said she felt the need to start appreciating the little things in her new life, rather just missing her ‘London life’. In a bid to find some elusive happiness, she committed to photographing one thing that made her smile and blogged about it every day for a year. And she did it. 

The blog came to close in December and Uganda is her next project: "I moved to a new job with a better work/life balance, but discovered after The Perspective Project I didn't have anything in my life to balance it out with. Instead of just watching reruns of The Voice every night, I thought I should get a new project," she said.

The Uganda trip is an opportunity to use her personal journey to impact the lives of women in Africa, and stems from her childhood aspirations to be Prime Minister and save the world. "While I’m a selfish person who rarely does anything that doesn't have a personal benefit for me – the same as many of us – I hope what I’m doing to make my own life happier, will also help improve someone else's life too." 

Uganda here I come - 26th April 2013

Giving and learning all at once

Over 60% of people living with hunger across the globe are women. In Uganda, 40% of people still lack access to clean water and 25% live below the poverty line. Violence against women continues to be widely tolerated and is also a leading factor of increased infection levels of HIV/AIDS in Ugandan women.

It’s statistics like these that drove me to sign up to raise $10k for women struggling with hunger and poverty. After raising the cash, I'm off to Uganda in November with two fantastic organisations - Business Chicks and The Hunger Project - to see change put into action.  

I am so bloody excited, and terrified!! Mainly terrified - at the prospect of raising $10k before November. So to quell the fear and kick off the fundraising campaign, I’ve decided to run the City2Surf, with a goal of raising the first $5k. I WILL REPEAT THAT. The laziest and most unfit person I know (me) has agreed to run 14km from Sydney City to Bondi. Until now, the furthest I’ve run is across the road to catch a cab. It’s official, I have gone mad!!

I'll track my journey to raise $10k on The Perspective Project, regularly posting pics of me struggling to exercise, updates on the fundraising target, and hilarious annacodates that happen along the way. I am also taking bets on how long it takes me to trip over and go flying off the back of a treadmill.

So, how much will you pay to see me exercise my butt off and do the one thing you thought most unlikely – me running? Is it $30, $50, $100, more? I really need your support to reach the fundraising target. So, please donate here and give as generously as you can: http://thp.org.au/get-involved/events/lazy-patrice-runs-city2surf

For those wanting a little more detail on the work The Hunger Project do just read on or visit www.thp.org: 

The Hunger Project firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Chronic, persistent hunger is not due merely to lack of food. It occurs when people lack opportunity to earn enough income, to be educated and gain skills, to meet basic health needs and have a voice in the decisions that affect their community.

The Hunger Project addresses these root causes of hunger by mobilizing people to be self-reliant, empowering women, and strengthening local government. They believe that the poor, illiterate women are the key to ending world hunger. When given a voice, these women become powerful and important change-agents in raising their families and their villages out of poverty. It's all about unlocking the creativity, leadership, entrepreneurialism and productivity of the poorest of the poor (detailed taken from www.thp.org). 

Why I'm better with a project - 26th April 2013

I am using my voice and refusing to be a echo

Blogging everyday for a year was theraputic. It was also cathartic. It forced me to stop, look around and absorb the sheer brilliance of all the great things in my life - big and small.  

Since The Perspective Project ended at Christmas, I have, to be honest, been a little lost. I've been missing the purpose it gave me and the sense I was doing something positive in my life each day. The last few months of naval gazing have led me to conclude that I am, in fact, a better and happier person when I have a project. 

So, cue dramatic music. I have an announcement. DA DA DA DAAA.

In a bid to recapture that sense of purpose, I've embarked on two new projects. The Perspective Project will now become a place to share my journey through these experiences and the funny stories that emerge along the way.

In the first instance, I have signed on to be a 'Big Sister' as part of the Life Changing Experiences Sister2Sister program. This initiative matches  ‘at risk’ teenage girls with a 'Big Sister' mentor to help them break the cycle of trauma and past experiences, to provide them with suport and someone to talk to, and help them develop strategies for personal growth and change.

The second project will lead me Uganda in November as part of a Leadership & Immersion program with two fantastic organisations - Business Chicks and The Hunger Project. In a fit of madness I've signed up to raise $10k and send myself to Africa and help women living with hunger and poverty, while also learning some life lessons from these incredible woman who do so much with so little.

Strap yourself in people. It is going to be a bumpy and hilarious ride. I promise to blog honestly about the ups, the downs and the downright funny.

The first positive - no more time for naval gazing. I now have a fantastic teenager in my life and I also need to start fundraising my butt off. The adrenaline is pumping. I do love a project!

The End - 22nd Dec 2012

So very true!

WOW, what a year! Today marks the last day of my 12 month 'Perspective Project'. A year ago I set myself a challenge to get happy and start appreciating my brilliant life. I was missing London, struggling to settle back into Australia, and spending my time wishing I was somewhere else. Then I had a little chat to myself that went something like this: "Get over yourself you whinging bitch. You have a great life that other people would die for. Learn to appreciate it, and if you can't, change it. You're being painful". 
So there it was, a personal ultimatum. I gave myself one year to get happy in my Sydney life. If I was still feeling like a fish out of water after 12 months, I could go back to London. 
So the action plan went like this (I'm always better with a plan) - find one thing every day that makes me appreciate my life or that makes me laugh. Take a photo of it and blog about it. I honestly cannot believe it has been a year. So what is the outcome I hear you ask? 

It's been a year filled with belly laughs courtesy of the small things I was previously missing. I've also slowed down, made a few big changes in my life to 'get happy' and found some longed for perspective. I wouldn't say I've reached Nivarna, but I'm a whole lot closer. Most importantly, I no longer need to buy a ticket to London. 
Here is a snapshot of the highs, the lows and the big lessons:

• Funniest moment = Being sprayed with Lynx deoderant by a cab driver who, god love him, was trying to remove the smell of smoke in his car for me 
• Unexpected insight = The unconditional love that pets give you, right when you need it. There were a few occasions when I was sad, scared and just needed hug. At that very moment a fluffy puppy appeared for a cuddle. Their timing was impeccable
• Toughest moment = The moment my mum told me she had cancer. The air around me disappeared. I couldn't breath, I couldn't think, and panic raced though my entire body. There in that very second I found perspective in the hardest of ways 
• The best moment = In direct contrast to the above, it was the day Mum got the all clear. We were lucky. Our cancer limbo only lasted eight months. Other families live with it for years. Appreciating the luck you get in this life is the biggest lesson I've taken from this project. I will be eternally grateful for our luck. I've won my Lotto

The Perspective Project has achieved exactly what I hoped it would when I started this journey. I'm happier in all aspects of my life, I've found the direction I'd lost and I now know what I want the next chapter of my life to look like. Even better, I've now got a plan to make it happen. Not a bad result! 

My next project is to turn the lessons from The Perspective Project into a book. So what are my top five tips for kicking the London (or anything) hangover and making the most of the life you have?

1. Looking for the positives in your life actually does make you happier, especially on those shitty days when you need to search really hard!
2. If your job is a key source of stress or unhappiness in your life, QUIT. It's the best decision I made all year
3. Your world can change in an instant, so get over your first world problems and make a concerted effort to enjoy what you've got. My greatest fear has always been losing someone in my immediate family. That phone call from Mum was the kick up the arse I needed
4. Have genuine conversations with your genuine friends. Their support and lack of judgement will shock you. I now pick up the phone instead of feeling I need to solve everything myself  
5. Laugh, laugh hard and laugh a lot. There is no situation that doesn't improve with a little humour, even if just for a minute. 

Thanks for reading and sharing the laughs along the way.

The End (for now)

Ice creams and sweet memories - 21st Dec 2012

It still looks exactly the same!

Some of my most precious childhood memories were created on our annual family holidays in Kiama. There was the rocket ship in the park we'd climb for hours, the 'paper man' who delivered newspapers and chocolates in his panel van, and my favourite - the Great Australian Ice Creamery. 
This year the Gibbons clan are returning to Kiama to make new memories. It's about 25 years since our last visit and our family has doubled in size. We've added two husbands, a girlfriend and two kids. While a million things have changed, some things have remained the same. It seems I've always been a creature of habit. Every day we'd visit the ice creamery and I'd order the same thing - a peppermint and choc chip ice cream in a cone. Tonight James and I arrived in Kiama and pulled up right in front of that very same shop. I ordered straight way without a thought - one scoop of peppermint choc chip in a cone!
It's also amazing how big things look when you are a little kid. The counter use to be so high and the shop felt so much bigger. But thankfully the ice cream is still brilliantly creamy.
The one thing I wish most for over the next week is the chance to create new family memories with my niece and nephew. Aunty Trice is so bloody excited. 

Tis the season to be jolly - 20th Dec 2012

Carols, Christmas trees and excitement

The carols are playing, Pitt Street Mall is full of shoppers and I am busting with excitement. My Christmas begins tonight. I'm on the airport run to pick up James, Nathan & Erin as they fly in for the Gibbons Family Christmas extravaganza. All 10 of us in one beach house for a week. I love airports and I especially love the airport run to pick up three early Christmas presents. It's the season to be jolly. Merry Christmas everyone.

I stole a fluffy puppy - 19th Dec 2012

So fully...so adorable

My name is Patrice Gibbons and I am a puppy addict. I think about stealing them in the park, I wonder if I can stuff the tiny fluffy ones into my hand bag and I go weak at the knees and speak in overly excited tones at the sheer sight of them. Basically, I behave around puppies the way most women respond around babies. Today I reached a new level. I stopped a woman on the street and asked her if I could I take a picture of her puppy. I know, I have no shame. But it was beyond adorable. Like any good addict in the midst of addiction, I am not ready to be helped. I'm not ready to give the puppies up. They make me so happy. As I said, my name is Patrice Gibbons and I am a puppy addict.

Cheap therapy - 18th Dec 2012

"Talking to your best friend is sometimes all the therapy you need." How true this is.  Tonight I spent over an hour on the phone to one of favourite girlfriends. I hung up feeling delighted, empowered and invigorated. There is something truly special about the three women I count as my closest friends. I feel lucky to have them in my life. So why don't I make more of an effort to call them regularly? I plan to call, then life gets busy and bullshit gets in the way. But tonight's power-hour of giggles and gossip reminded me that friends are often to best form of therapy. One call and the world is a better place, even if there was nothing wrong with it before.  

A delicious early XMas gift - 17th Dec 2012

The surprise package

I love surprises. The suspense of not knowing what is inside a cardboard box or a beautifully wrapped present kills me, but I love the excitement none the less. Today I arrived home to find the big box above on our door step. It only took a few seconds for me to realise it was our Christmas present from my brother and his girlfriend. God I love surprises.
Like any good journo, I started investigating. Turns out is was either a satellite or a pizza oven. The suspense (and hunger pains) got the better of me. Happy Early Christmas. We are now the proud owners of a rocking pizza oven that just got it's first workout. Yummo. Thanks Nathan and Erin. Brilliant idea!

The oven in action

Simply the best medicine - 16th Dec 2012

The solutions to many of life's problems don't rest in a bottle, a tablet or in expensive potions. Today I discovered that sometimes, it's as simple as a good laugh and a long sleep. I've indulged in both and the world is already a better place. So simple and effective (not to mention cheap).

Serious convenience for lazy people - 15th Dec 2012

It's no secret I love anything that makes my life a little easier, especially when it's related to chores or personal admin. You know, the stuff you need to do that takes up precious hours of your week, but delivers little fun or enjoyment. Well today, I discovered a brilliant invention for lazy people - the drive-thru dry cleaners. You just cruise on up, listen to music in your car while you wait (there were quite a few other lazy people in front of me), then someone arrives at your window, takes your dirty clothes and your done! Apparently they also text you when your clothes are clean and ready. Seriously...this is brillint. How did I not know about this before? I know it's lazy, I know I'm slightly pathetic, but I'm also bloody excited. I am in love with the drive-through dry cleaners.