'An Adventure Of A Lifetime'

*** To enjoy these words to their full potential, I’d love if you might hit the play button on the audio recording…..It has extra words….and extra elements of me being a real human haha ;) Promise….it’s the better option in my humble opinion….pop on your earphones and you might go for a stroll, you might clean out the fridge or you might just lie on your bed and close your eyes while listening…..I really hope you enjoy no matter what xxx *thanks for being here x

“This is going to be an Adventure of a lifetime, Louise.”

These are the words that fell so naturally from my cute little Irish mother’s mouth - she’s known as Ollie - as I shared with her my feelings of being afraid regarding my next big step in my career….Herself and my favourite band Coldplay totally on cue when it came to encouraging me to not be afraid but instead to embrace the idea that this next step was indeed going to be ‘an adventure of a lifetime’…..

And since I haven’t shared with you yet what this next step is, I think it is indeed time…

Well I guess now that I’ve flights booked, it is most certainly happening…..so it is the right moment to own this move and share this move too …..On March 8th I will take a flight to the United States of America and over an eighteen day period I hope to share and spread the story of Granny Nancy. This is a huge step for me personally and since spending such intense time with Gran and never going a place, only moving from the kitchen to my fold up bed and to fold up bed back to the kitchen during that time, to be talking about going to America with the story of Gran in my heart is a huge move for me, never mind actually doing it….I pinch myself as I write this…Is this really happening? Is this really Louise Coghlan?

I think it’s very natural for me to be feeling a little wobbly because not only am I stepping out of my home country, my home county, my home parish, my home…..but I’m also carrying within me a very special part of my heart to share in a new space in a new way with new people. I’m carrying Granny’s life & legacy with me and that truly is an honour but also it is still heavy to hold within me as I grieve her loss. Last week I wobbled all over the shop with the doubt of whether I could really do this. Could I step forward and travel on my own to the US? Could I travel to all these places and not feel stressed or anxious or just feel overwhelmed by letting go of all my supports of home? Could I free myself of the mental shackles I felt from cocooning for two years in a way that trapped me inside of myself but gave granny the best end to her life that I was capable of….And when I say that statement, I will never regret a minute of doing what I done. I loved Gran with every fibre of my heart and I knew I could help her. I was in a moment in my life that I could step forward and in fairness the whole ‘Covid thing’ was unfortunate timing and made everything so much harder but it gave me and her a connection I could never have cemented without the lockdowns so I’ll be forever grateful for my opportunity to love her more than I loved her before. Anyway back to my wobble….The questions and doubts continued….the wobbling continued and Ollie stuck to her response…. ‘Louise this is going to be an adventure of a lifetime’….My mam is her mother’s daughter true to form… a second Granny Nancy….a rock of sense with a heart the size of the Atlantic ocean…so I know when my mam is giving me advice, I should take a breathe and take it in…..Her and Coldplay coming together to tell me the same thing….

Since this statement is now becoming such an important part of my mindset going forward…And you know how strongly I believe in mindset….Mindset is everything so it’s time i turn the corner on my own doubt and believe that this trip to the states is indeed going to be that ‘It is indeed going to be an adventure of a lifetime.’ In taking this statement/motto/mindset on board with full commitment, I decided to go investigate the album to which this song belongs to on the Coldplay collection…And once I did that, I decided it must be fate that my mam said that statement…..The song ‘An Adventure of a Lifetime’ is from an album called …wait for it….yes it’s from ‘A Head Full of Dreams’. I couldn’t make it up couldn’t I?

I then went to look at the name of the songs on that particularly album and they go like this:

1. A Head Full of Dreams - well this is definitely where I’m at in 2023….I’m heading off to America with a head full of dreams….Dreams I’ve had all my life….To dream to be a writer….To dream to be a speaker….To dream to give positive healing words to others….To dream to help others….A dream to share a story of affirming hope and friendship….Yes my head is definitely full of dreams and I am living them out….Last year I fulfilled my dream to write my first book and this year, well the world is my oyster…..funnily enough I don’t like oysters…I’m sure that won’t stop me from living out my dreams sure it won’t?

2. Birds…..Another funny take on this song title…..Granny Nancy Stewart was indeed a bird….and I don’t mean in an animal sense….but her family name was ‘Bird’…so as a child she was indeed Nancy Bird….so this second title tells me I am definitely connected to this whole album in lots of special ways….and I am definitely on ‘track’ in my life…no pun intended….

   

3. Hymn for The Weekend - Well this one, I must focus on a set of lyrics from within it…which go like this;

   ‘Oh, angel sent from up above
   You know you make my world light up
   When I was down, when I was hurt
   You came to lift me up.”

   And that says it all…When I am down, sad, lonely or feeling wobbly I look up…..I look up to the sky…I look up to Heaven. I look up to Gran when she sends me sunshine, the moon, the stars or those beautiful rainbows and how could I forget my gorgeous butterflies….I also look up to those I love and they never fail to light up my world….For my American trip I will be spending the weekends in New York, Boston and Cape Cod so really the hymn for my weekends will be very much to look up to the sky and say ‘Thank YOU’.

4. Everglow - This is one of my most favourite Coldplay songs….When Everglow was released in 2015, I felt every word of it. I had lost my dad and was really missing him. And now after losing and grieving the loss of two of my most favourite people, two of my believers, two of my best friends, two of my people, I now know their glow of love will never die. It lives on in me and I will never not feel their love inside me. I also know what I put out in the world is my glow, and it’s up to me to give out the best of me. And then when the day comes and I go to the next life, all that will be left of me will be my glow and hopefully it will be an ever glow of the good kind…..When I see the impact Gran’s life is having on people who knew her and people who are only finding out about her, I now totally understand and value the magical power of an ever glow….

5. Adventure of a Lifetime - Well we all know what this one relates to….My hopes and my dreams for my trip to the USA……Fingers and toes crossed ;) And Ollie’s mantra is indeed this statement so our mam’s always know best, don’t they? I trust whole heartedly in my mam so here’s to an adventure of a lifetime……See you across the other side x

   

6. Fun - Well this is the definitive word I try to live my life by….I love fun….I try to be fun. I encourage fun. I want fun. Fun is such a small little word but just like my love for the small word that is ‘joy’, I believe you can never have enough fun in your life. It’s all about our own mindset, our own contribution and if we bring fun to the table, we are stepping forward with our best foot. There are enough people who seem to not even know what fun is, and let’s just say, I believe they are seriously missing out. As we say in Ireland, ‘We’re here for a good time, not a long time’ referring to the fragility of life and making sure that life is lived and not endured or waited on…..I’m spending time in New York, Boston and Cape Cod when travelling to the US and I can’t wait to have fun…..My intentions are fun based and anything extra will be bonus territory! :)

7. Kaleidoscope - Well this song speaks to us all I think. It’s about taking life with all its up’s and down’s and remembering to keep moving forward. The song is based on a poem from Rumi (who I love) and Chris wrote it around the time of his break up with Gweneth Paltrow…..Life is indeed a kaleidoscope and just like that instrument it’ all in how you look at it…I’m a big believer that it’s not what you look at, but what you see in this life….. You either see the glass half full or half empty….I’ve got a feeling that at this stage, you know me fairly well, so I always looking for the silver lining, the glass being half full and I will always look for the colour in the world. I get knocked like everyone else but I refuse to be done, I refuse to stay down, I get back up and I try again. In this world you can either see the world in black and white or you can see it in full blast full colour like a rainbow or in this case, like a kaleidoscope ;)

   

8. Army of One - Well this song says a lot too. Are you an army of one? Yes you might just be…and I think in ways we all are…We are individuals and as we all know, no matter what happens, when it comes to our heart, when it comes to our minds, there is only one person who can work, heal and move these troubles, it’s down to us. We are indeed an army of one. Also it can be viewed that when we come together on the same mission, the same brief, the same focus, we become an army of one together. I feel that way through the community I’ve built online here in substack and particularly my Facebook Family. Also my writers community in the London Writer’s Salon. I believe even though we are individuals, I could not have dreamed or achieved what I have in the last year without you by my side. I feel the same regarding heading to the states… in that so many good people are stepping forward to help me with all of it. I very much feel we are an army of one as I take this leap of faith….I don’t feel alone and I think in life that is the most important part of life….I will be doing my Facebook Lives asking you for directions …and that is because we are an army of one and I wouldn’t want it any other way! How lucky am I?! xx

9. Amazing Day - well I hope you all have an amazing day today!

   Beautiful lyrics from Chris Martin -

   ‘We sat on a roof
   Named every star
   Shared every bruise and
   Showed every scar

   Hope has its proof
   Your hand in mine, singing
   Life has a beautiful, crazy design
   And time seemed to say
   Forget the world and its weight
   And here I just want to stay

   What an amazing day.’

10. Colour Spectrum - Well the minute I hear this title I think of one item…and that is a rainbow and I also think of the front cover of Coldplay’s album which looks like a kaleidoscope of colour….a colour spectrum….What I love about the colour choices by Coldplay is they are happy colours…they are indeed the colours of a rainbow…Bright, cheerful and full of life…..so the way I see it is that life can indeed be dark and heavy but when those moments lift, we get an opportunity to choose the light. Choose the colour. Choose our own spectrum to which we live our life….We can indeed shine out and look for bright colours and in turn be a bright colour or we can be held back and stay in the dark elements of life. It is all a choice once your survive the hand of fate. From that moment on, we must do our best to find the light. Be the light. Travel like light. And create a colour spectrum that gives hope to others. Gives joy to other. And in the end gives our life an array of brightness that takes away the dark……

11. Up & Up - And finally one of my favourite songs from the album….Up and Up…in my mind I think of being in an hot air balloon and going up and up beyond the cloud, into that beautiful blue sky…….or maybe even a rocket as I head to the moon and stars…In my mind, I believe every time I catch a beautiful sky, I’m seeing a glimpse of what Heaven is like…What the next part of life is like once we leave this earth and this is definitely one of the reason I love the beauty in the sky. Also Chris does indeed mention ‘Irish fields’ which gets the extra nod of likeability for me of course haha ;) And I guess this is going to be one of the songs I’ll play in my earphones when I’m about to take off from Dublin with my head full of dreams, a beautiful song of a rare Irish bird, hoping for a kaleidoscope of fun and a colour spectrum of love for the adventure of a lifetime I’m about to have….

    

Well there you have it…Another newsletter pretty much dedicated to Chris Martin and my legend of a mother Ollie…Little does she know that her words were to be as impactful of this…But of course they were. Like Coldplay’s talent for reading what is important in life, my beautiful mam is the most special star in my galaxy and as much as I’d love her to come along for this adventure, I know I have her in my heart as I take this leap of faith and that she believes in me. Just like I believe in YOU xx Together we’ve got this friends…Together is the win in life….and don’t forget don’t leave a bit of your life behind you. We are indeed here for a good time not a long time x

Lou x

**One final special mention before I finish….One of my best friends birthday is tomorrow….Her name is Lauren Deborah and she writes here on substack

lauren deborah (she/her) 💫

Do indeed go subscribe if you haven't already to her amazing home of words ......And you know me, I do love to sing Happy Birthday....So here goes....Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Lauren. Happy birthday to you! Thanks so much for being such a wondeful friend to me and so many others! I'm so lucky to have you in my life & the world is so lucky to have you in it! May the year ahead be your best year yet! x

PS. Also I got Chris Martin to sing you Happy birthday...as you will see in the video, he got our names mixed up but it's all for you haha :)

I’d love if you might like to leave a thought or a comment on this piece of writing…your words encourage me to keep writing and they really lift my heart to know my words were read/listened by YOU xx Thank You xxx