February 2, 2014 - Written by: Lauren Williams

Practising What I Preach

As I sit here writing this, tucked up in bed with the rugby on the telly (COME ON ENGLAND), a bit of a hangover and an unexplained broken toe (pay day, plus booze…) I feel like the safest and least spontaneous person on the planet.

But last night I practised what I preach and said yes to an opportunity that presented itself to me. It went a little something like this:

Me: (Walks into the pub) Hi! What are you guys up to?

Friends: We’re just booking a trip to Amsterdam, you guys on it tonight?

Me: Really? I want to come! I was only saying today that I could do with an adventure.

Friends: Why don’t you come? We’ve got a space in the car to the airport.

Me: Oo, are you booking everything now?

Friends: Yep, we’re just booking flights and then the laptop is all yours.

Me: Awesome.

So there we have it. Amsterdam in April, totally on a whim. My friend who I dragged to the pub with me was completely baffled, “I’ve never seen someone do that before! I mean, people say they’re going to do stuff and they never do, but you didn’t even think about it!”

(Image via)

Saying yes is something I talk about doing all the time, and is usually something that I do too. Especially when it’s pay day and my friends are booking a trip away in front of me at the end of potentially the worst week I’ve ever had. Adventure and booze are the perfect remedy for any ailment.

It’s that little bit inside of you that screams out to break from the norm, to rattle the shackles of routine and to experience every drop of life that is out there.

Constantly saying yes is the reason I will forever be at the bottom of my overdraft, but is also why I lead a life I love that full of ridiculous stories, great adventures and more than the average number of hangovers most people endure in their lifetime.

It’s about living and laughing and making it to the end of your life, only hanging on by a thread and wondering how on earth you made it that far because you really did put your foot to the floor. Battered and broken, but with a face filled with smile lines and a head full of memories. It’s about really fucking living.

Wasn’t it Hunter S Thompson who said,

Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit…what a ride!’

Now I’m by no means saying that you should follow in the footsteps of the founding father of gonzo journalism – he had Bloody Mary’s every morning for breakfast and proceeded to rub coke in his gums for the rest of the day (each day, every day) but the guy did have a valid point.

It’s just a trip to the ‘Dam, but who know what’s going to happen? What are you saying yes to this year?

– you can’t make this shit up

Tags: adventure alcohol Amsterdam Europe happiness Hunter S Thomson Life quote Travel