Personal Prompt: What are some things you want to improve in the New Year?

It’s 2017. Thank fuck that 2016 is over – I don’t think I could have taken much more of it. While an arbitrary turn of the clock for 24 hours does not make that much change in reality, the turning over of a new year is mentally a time to start afresh. It does feel different. It feels like a line in the sand where all the crap from 2016 can be relegated to “the past” and all the plans and hopes for the “the future” feel as though they can be put into place now. The trick is not to have too many plans… And to have small, sensible, achievable plans. While we always tell our kids to reach for the stars, if I make a new years resolution to touch a star, I’m going to be setting myself up for disappointment.

So… In light of the above prompt from The Mighty editorial team, here are some things I want to improve in the New Year:

01. Acceptance. This is a biggy. I need acceptance of so many things. 2017 is my year of acceptance.

02. Courage. I rarely have courage – not in the things that I’m afraid of. Be brave Simone – do what scares you.

03. Finance. While work symbolises many things for me, our finance needs to be sorted regardless of my income status.

04. Garden. I want to learn to garden. Apparently people get a lot of joy from gardening… I’d like to join the ranks.

05. Health. I’m tempted to write weight… But health is the issue. I want a healthy body – not a wasted, sick body.

06. Home. We have made huge headway on our house this year – it’s transforming into a home. Let’s keep it up!

07. Joy. I want to laugh until I wet my pants in 2017. Unfettered joy in the inanity of simple pleasures.

08. Love. I am incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by love. Harking back to #1… I need to accept and reciprocate it.

09. Pain. I started to develop a lot of chronic back pain in 2016. This has to stop… Manage it before it gets worse.

10. Writing. I’m very comfortable leaving my music career behind me. I want to utilise my writing. It needs to improve.

Creative Prompt: Come up with a pitch for a new television show. (What’s it about? Who stars in it? Where does it take place?)

Now creatively The Mighty are asking me to write ideas for a new television show… Part of me is thinking, “That’s a really dumb challenge – not interested, not gonna do it.” Part of me is thinking, “They asked me to do it, I have to do it.” The latter part is winning…

So, if I were the boss of the reality television stations, I’d get rid of all the cooking, relationship, survival, renovation, pointless reality shows, and put in something that benefits humankind. Perhaps a mental health focus because that’s where my head is focussed at this point in my life.

Maybe instead of a show where racist people who hate asylum seekers are challenged to meet them, and go visit “where they came from”, to try and help them learn empathy for those that aren’t just like them, we could find all those people who think mental health issues are “all in your head” and challenge them. [Okay – yes, mental health issues are all in the head… But not in a controlled manner!]

Teach people what it’s like to live with depression by making them wear glasses that change the colour and focus of the world around them, drape them in weighted clothes that physically exhaust them all the time, have headphones playing in their ears 24/7 with dark thoughts about themselves (you’re fat, you’re worthless, you’re a burden, it’s never going to get any better, what are you here for, you’d be better off dead, etc), surround them by people who are upbeat and chirpy and energetic all the time and tell them to just “cheer up” when they’re too exhausted to stand up.

The world is full of celebrities with known mental health issues – get them to join in. Stephen Fry, Emma Stone, Lady Gaga (just off the top of my head…)

If we could change the ignorance of those that judge, we could change the world for those that suffer. Where’s my funding?