My 2011: Bianca Villarosa

2011 has been quite the year. There were heaps of twists and turns and lots of hits and misses, but something made the penny drop earlier this year.

I am all about direction…for example, graduating from university, taking a gap year and coming back to full-time work – the job you studied to get for five or more years. But this mentality has gone out the window – 2011 was all about change and embracing things like ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’. Things can’t always be on the straight and narrow.

Up until six months ago, if somebody spoke about how something was ‘destined to be’ or how ‘it was fate’ I would often laugh and bring them back down to reality. They don’t exist. Simple as that -or at least they were the cards I used to play back in the day. I never understood how ‘things were meant to be’. How? What makes them ‘be’?

I was greedy and went on another European adventure in the middle of 2011. A European trip in 2010 saw me book tickets upon my return and head back to lots of fun in the sun. Nothing changed upon my return in 2010. It was back to university to complete my Masters, back into work and back into saving for my next trip. Upon my return from my 2011 trip, things were a little different.

I think that the Mediterranean waters do funny things to you. While sailing in the middle of nowhere on a Croatian Cruise, I woke up one morning and thought about how things could be different back at home; work-wise, relationship-wise, lifestyle-wise. Why was I thinking about these sorts of things? Why now when everything was settled at home? I still have no idea but after chatting to world-wise travellers from a mix of ages and backgrounds, I thought it was about time I shook things up a bit.

So I came home after meeting a bunch of wonderful people and tried to use the words ‘fate’ and ‘destiny’ as much as I could – because I believed in them. I don’t really know why. It is always the toughest questions that don’t have an answer. My girlfriends thought I’d gone mad. “Since when do you believe in that stuff B?” they would ask.

Sometimes you just know that deep down you get the feeling you are changing. Maybe it was that I was growing up and saw things in a different light. You are blinded by this because you are so caught up in your social life, work life, family life and what others are doing around you. People often don’t stop to actually think about what they want to do – what they could do and what they are doing.

I studied at university for five years and am very lucky to have landed a job in journalism. However, two weeks ago I completed further study and attained a TEFL qualification to teach English overseas. It was the best three months of studying. Highly enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone who has thought about taking the course for even a minute.

The path I thought I was going to take has become clouded and rocky – all because I know am not 100% as to where I want to be or will be in a couple of years time. Moving overseas to work in a totally different field and leaving fabulous friends and a very supportive family behind seems crazy for me, but maybe it’s just about trying something different and ticking off a couple of other wacky things on my bucket list (that changed drastically post my trip).

Who knows what will happen in 2012 – a thought like this would have been extremely daunting for me in the past – but at the moment, I’ll just let fate run its course.