It’s never too late to fall in love with your life

In order to live a happy, long life you must fill it with the things, people and places that you love. 

– Kat Kinnie –

I have just read the most brilliantly inspirational article about a 90-year-old woman who lives as though she is still 20. And is perfect proof that it’s never too late to decide to fill your life with the things that you love.

She started her own fashion label at 50, became a musician and learned Italian and French in her 70s, took tango and trapeze at 80 and walked into her first yoga class at 85. So however old you are, there’s always time to make a change.

The question is, what do you want to fill your life with more of? I wrote a post the other day (Fill your life with things you love) about how much I am loving getting into photography and I can’t wait to enjoy the photography course that Darren and I will be taking in July.

An even bigger step for me was that this time last year I made the decision to start singing again. I started singing from about the age of 6 at school and when I got to the age of about 13 I was in 3 choirs, and by the age of 16 I was taking singing lessons and training to be a soprano. After only about 6 months of lessons, I took my Grade 5, and passed with flying colours. Between the age of 16 – 18, I was in a couple of musicals that toured Germany and the Czech Republic, and then when I went to University, I stopped singing for some reason. I’m still not entirely sure why, but I definitely lost my confidence somewhere along the way.

Throughout my 20s, when I was living in London I was a frequent visitor to Lucky Voice Private Karaoke in Soho, choosing it as the destination for my birthday celebrations every year. I even ended up working for them for a short stint too. I was so happy that every Monday, our weekly meetings started at 9am with a group karaoke sing-a-long to 4 songs in our Board Room. It was hilarious watching people gather outside our offices in the street, to look up and try to work out why the sound of 15 people singing Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi was flooding out of an open window just off Oxford Street. Good times.

Here’s the video that I created for my job application. Pretty funny stuff if you’re up for a laugh.

And my love of karaoke culminated in me hiring a Rockaoke band to play at my 30th birthday in St John’s Hill, Battersea, where all of my favourite friends in the UK came to celebrate and belt karaoke songs out from a stage, backed up by a live band. Literally one of the most fun evenings of my entire life and a great way to see in a brand new decade.

So, why am I telling you all of this? Because, if you hadn’t guessed already, I LOVE singing, amongst many other things in life.

And this time last year I decided that I was going to get over my nerves and put an ad in Gumtree to find a guitarist. Which I did. And to my surprise, I had quite a few responses. I actually, had a number of guitarists from which to pick from! I met up with a lovely guy called Rob from the UK who had recently moved to Sydney, who shared my love of the Beatles and we would meet up every week and play songs together and I’d sing.

After a few months of playing together, we ended up performing a couple of Beatles songs at the launch party for my new company, Thought Cloud. One of which was recorded by a very lovely person who came to the concert and popped it up on You Tube.

I cannot even begin to tell you how scared I was, standing up on stage in front of 150 people for the first time in about 16 years. I was petrified. What if I forgot the words? What if people thought I was rubbish? What if I sang the wrong notes? These were all things that went through my mind. But, my love of singing overrode all of those silly, unnecessary thoughts, and I enjoyed every single moment. So much fun, so enjoyable, just awesome.

I then moved to Manly and Rob wasn’t able to make it over for regular rehearsals, so put another ad in Gumtree to find a new guitarist and stumbled across 2 this time. We performed together at another Thought Cloud party last November that was themed Day of the Dead/Halloween, which also happened to coincide with my birthday. One again, the nerves were still there a little, but the desire to sing and have fun, overrode these once more.

Which brings me to now. It’s just over 7 months since then and I haven’t sung since. Things got busy in November as I was applying for my sponsorship and visa through Thought Cloud. I was then living out of a suitcase for the first few months of 2013 while I worked out where I was going to live. Darren and I moved in together into a lovely flat in Manly in April and we have just spent the last few months settling in. And most recently I have been working on a book for my business on Conscious Branding. So, the time has come to find another guitarist and get back into singing methinks. And what better way to make a commitment to this, than by announcing it on my blog. 🙂

I would absolutely love to be able to sing in a bar or pub, once a week or fortnight in Manly, so that is going to be my goal. First I need to find a new guitarist, then we need to practice and get a setlist together, then we need to do our first proper gig together, so I’ll let you know how I go.

And to bring today’s post to a nice neat close, it’s never too late to fall in love with your life and fill it with the things that you love. Just because you have a day job, doesn’t mean that you can’t take up a new hobby or start-up something that you’ve always been meaning to start. Just because you used to do something that you loved when you were little, doesn’t mean that you can’t take it up again later in life. Just because you’ve got a day job doing something that you’re not that passionate about, doesn’t mean to say that you can’t make a change and start-up your own business on the side with the intention of going full-time.

I am living, breathing proof that you can make fundamental positive changes in your life. All you need to do is decide. I have moved countries, I have left the corporate world, I have set up my own company doing something that I really and truly love, I have met the love of my life, I live in a place that I love with all my heart, I’m excited to wake up every day and embrace what life has to offer me and I am completely and utterly in love with my life and it increases every day. I wouldn’t change anything, and I know that the more I embrace the things I love and fill my life with them, it will just continue to get better and better. The opportunities are limitless. . . . .

So, what do you want to have more of in your life, and what can you do right this minute to fill it with? I’m off to write my Gumtree advert for a new guitarist. Feel free to add your comments below.

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

P.S.

The photo at the top of the post was taking by a very good friend (and amazing photographer) Mr Graham Binns back in 2007. He has been growing his photography business over the last few years and is another beautiful and shining example of someone who is filling their life with what they love. You can check out his work at grahambinns.com.

P.P.S.

I don’t normally share the videos of me singing, because of my insecurities around singing, but I thought what the heck today. I’ve got nothing to lost. And if this post inspires at least one person to start doing more of one thing that they love, I’ll be a happy bunny.

Inspiration for this post

Loving life at 90 – The Huffington Post

My love of singing

My application video for working at Lucky Voice UK

With a little help from my friends cover at All You Need is Love