**AmandaLouiseHobba**: Spontaneous Goals

It has been almost three years since I packed up my most treasured belongings and took a 10 hour bus ride from Adelaide to Geelong. It was one of the most reckless things I have ever done in my life.

· I didn’t have a job

· I didn’t have a place to live

· I didn’t know anyone

· I couldn’t even remember ever having visited the place

So why did I move? I think the major reason was, I really needed to make a big change in my life, and the thrill of taking such a huge risk made it all the more appealing – it made me feel alive. The initial plan was to actually move to Melbourne. But moving from Adelaide to Melbourne was quite a scary thought, and I was at a point where I wanted a break from the big city life. Now Adelaide is by no means a ‘big city’, it is quite often referred to as Australia’s largest regional town – even though it is supposed to be a state capital. If I was already frazzled from living in Adelaide, I doubt I could have handled living in the insane hustle and bustle that is Melbourne. After growing up in a small country town of only 3000 people, I had no intention of living in a small town. I needed to move somewhere big enough that actually had things like share house accommodation and some form of suitable work, not to mention some degree of decent shopping opportunities. As Geelong has a population of over 200,000 people, and is only one hour from Melbourne, it fit my needs perfectly.

Although my move to Geelong was more of an act of random spontaneity than a well thought out goal, it did require a bit of thought and a bit of planning for it to have actually worked. The spontaneous part was actually the thing that made it happen. So often if I don’t act on something straight away, I forget about it and it never happens. As stupid as my move to Geelong seemed to people around me – most of whom didn’t even know about it until after it actually happened – it turned out to be a very positive change in my life. Even though I continued to deal with the same issues I had faced I Adelaide, I actually found it much easier to overcome them.

My goal this spring – the season of new beginnings – is to gain a fresh perspective on life. I have been living in Geelong now for almost 3 years, and while I have become quite familiar with how to get around and am aware of some of the things Geelong has to offer, I am still yet to fully appreciate everything it has in store.

My first sights of Geelong: