Given the combination of the gorgeous sunshine today in Granada mixed with a lovely mojito, I was reminded of a fantastic holiday I had with Mrs Away From The Noise a few years ago in the Seychelles. It was absolutely beautiful and my first holiday on a tropical island and we even went to the beach where they filmed the famous Bounty advert. Two weeks of blazing sunshine, white sandy beaches, beautiful clear blue ocean framed by palm trees and local exotic birds. What’s not to like?

A few days after returning back to London where I was living at the time, there was that dreaded sense of getting ‘back to the grindstone’ of daily life, work and sardine-can commuting. I recall feeling quite overwhelmed and slightly depressed about things but everybody gets that post-holiday blues thing, don’t they? But what could I do about it? How could I turn this into something good? An opportunity even?

I remember being so excited in the weeks building up to the holiday in the Seychelles, so maybe I could arrange something else to look forward to? To help get me through the ‘down’ days. I love visiting new places and remember a trip we’d planned to Whitstable in the east of England where we mooched around and had fish and chips on the beach at sunset. Not as grand or exotic as a tropical island perhaps but we had the loveliest time nevertheless.

What are you looking forward to doing?

It doesn’t have to be fundamentally reinventing your life with a grand gesture. It just needs to be something.

An evening class? A weekend away? Seeing friends or family? Sitting in the garden reading that book that’s been lying on the bedside table for weeks? Your something could also of course be taking a trip around the world or moving to another country if that is what you really want to do.

It may have been a couple of weeks ago now, but the thousands of runners in the London Marathon could only do what they did because they had something to look forward to. The finish line. Some of them may have spent time visualising themselves crossing the line, while others may have constantly pushed themselves to finish by repeating something motivating like ‘I can do this!’ Whatever they did when they ran their race their own way, they looked forward to achieving their own goal. And to knowing that they had set their mind to something and achieved it. However painfully it may have been at times.

We can do that in our daily lives too, can’t we? Yes, of course reality and obstacles have to be addressed, however whatever we like doing or want to do, we can make happen. What’s stopping us? However supposedly big or small.

Now where did I put those travel magazines?