What a game changer a week can be.
Seven blissful days when superlatives don’t do justice to the end result.
A week in Wales, amid some of the finest weather the UK has seen in years. Blissful mornings parked on the picnic bench lofted above our honeypot cottage looking into a world of valleys and lost internet connections.
A wood burning stove, instead of a telephone socket. Mezzanine bedroom, skylight, sunshine and stars the most blissful views from a bed-bearing pose.
Nothing but contemplation and introspection. Planning, and cavorting. The ultimate holiday, a feast for all the senses. Eating like champions, talking dreams and ideas like the great Grecian thinkers. Food for mind, body and soul.
I fell in love seven times with life and my gorgeous girlfriend. Each day, a different perspective. Cliff walking, hunting for gourmet delights, making sand angels by the shore. Male voice choirs, harbourside draughts of ambrosia.
Those different perspectives, then. This was a holiday for every reason. To discharge what remaining negative energy was left in the reservoirs of my cerebral channels from the hangover of corporate life – 18 months ago. Until now, no chance to purge. Today, a different person emerges from the skin of a guy who tried oh so hard, but never stood a chance of following his dreams: to help people, and to help himself.
Today, a new person lives in the corpse of Dave Thackeray. I feel bountiful of joy and gratitude for the chance to spend a spectacular series of experiences and dates with someone who so cherishes my time, my thoughts, my love and my passion for everything around us. You, this, the remarkable moments to come.
Enough spirituality. What did I achieve?
Number one: I realised the only thing, person holding me back was me.
My daily churn of posts on this site, as an example of what was preventing me from following through. Churn. To write a post of note every day for a year was my quest. Looking back, so very few of those posts graced the same score as ‘of note’. It was lunacy to think it could be done, with so random a subject brief.
So DaveThackeray.com becomes a repository for my ideas and ideals, moving on. No more than daily rant or riposte. When things are ripe and ready to be unleashed, they will be here. But no more promises on frequency, in favour of the quality I pursued in my 2010 manifesto. Half the dream remains unbitten.
The circuiting of confusion also stops here. Focus, discipline, passion are the inherited gains of a week spent in a near-meditative state. That troika is guaranteed.
And finally, aside from the love of life and people so close is the priority #1 of all this retreat and reboot: absolute dedication and devotion to a business with promise and so much potential, I would be even closer to lunacy to be without.
I was delighted to discover I’d won tickets from blog legend Chris Garrett to the Social Media Success Summit for posting my biggest social media challenge for 2010. I was delighted it was received so well and in many cases, matched exactly the obstacles fomenting in people’s minds.
You can view that post here.
I love and worship you all for having frequented this blog and being with me in my churlish, challenging and sometimes coveted adventures ranging long and looming dear across the first third of 2010. There will be many more to come and the Me Manifesto still applies.
Now, my attention switches to helping small businesses grow customers. There’s a project in the wings I’m bursting to tell you about, but all in good time.
For now, the Ctrl+Alt+Del combo is complete. I feel reborn.
Thanks for life.