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.