Recently, I was visiting my parents up in Newcastle. I grew up in Newcastle, (Newcastle being a generic term that basically incorporates Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland, Port Stephens and even the Hunter Valley).
I was really struck by the changes that are taking place there, particularly in the Newcastle CBD. In recent years it has really undergone an identity change. It got me thinking about the subject of re-inventing yourself. Because I think at some time or other, it’s something that we’ve all wanted to do. So today, I thought I’d give you my take on re-inventing yourself IF that is something you want to do. You may be perfectly happy and not wanting to make any major changes, and that’s fine. But for those of you who have ever thought about re-inventing yourself, this one’s for you!
Nowadays, every time I go home, I’m amazed at all the changes that have taken place. Obviously, any place will change over time, that’s normal. But what I’ve noticed about Newcastle is that the changes that are taking place there are not just physical, such as new buildings and OMG there’s been quite a few of those in recent times, but also there is a cultural change taking place as well. Newcastle has really changed its identity from what it used to be.
I’ve also included some pics of some of my favourite hang outs when I’m in Newcastle!
I can remember growing up in Newcastle 20 years ago, it was a very chilled and relaxed place to be, and I’m pleased to say that’s still the case. However back then, it had a very dirty, industrial identity to it. We had the BHP back then, there was a lot of pollution associated with that. And Newcastle, in the main had a very dingy reputation. I would even go so far as to say that we had a somewhat macabre sense of pride in the City being so dirty, we’d say, “this is Newcastle!”.
When I first moved to Sydney, I was a little taken aback by the fast pace of Sydney compared to Newcastle. Then I began to notice a different side to Sydney, one that I never saw whenever I visited, it wasn’t until I moved that I could see it. Sydney had a lot of things like culture. It had heaps of lovely restaurants and Cafes that we just didn’t have in Newcastle. It had really nice apartment living in the City, unheard of in Newcastle. I fell in love with all these differences, and fell in love with Sydney.
But now when I go back home, I can see the same things happening in Newcastle. Today, Newcastle has many gorgeous cafes and amazing restaurants, it no longer has the “dirty”, “grungy” reputation that it once had. Suburbs that were no-go zones back 20 years ago are today hip and trendy places to be. It’s a really cultured and sophisticated City. A TOTALLY DIFFERENT identity to when I was growing up.
So what changed? What happened in order for Newcastle to re-invent itself? More importantly, what can we learn from this to re-invent ourselves for the better?
My Top Tips For Re-Inventing Yourself !
Make A Decision.
First and foremost. You need to make a decision that you WANT to re-invent yourself. You want to carve out a different identity to what you’re currently living.
When I was growing up, Newcastle made a decision that it wanted to change. They MADE THE DECISION. They announced the decision, they said, this is what is going to happened. They outlined their vision of what the City would look like in 20 years’ time. I remember thinking at the time, OMG 20 years seems like such a long way away. I looked at the dingy area’s they wanted to improve and thought why would they bother on such a place like that! But they had the vision back then, and now you can see the fruits of that.
Re-inventing yourself starts with a decision. It must be a deliberate act on your part that this is something that you want to do. You must also understand that re-inventing yourself will not be easy, you’ll need to break the old patterns of the past. Someone once said, “habits are like cob webs that become cables, and it’s really hard to break a cable!”. When you make a deliberate decision to re-invent yourself, you must be prepared to stick with it for the long haul.
Take Physical Action.
The next thing you need to do to re-invent yourself is to take some kind of physical action. It can be something small, but it’s important to do something. You have to have some kind of tangible evidence to prove to yourself that you have taken action.
When Newcastle began the process of re-inventing the City, they took physical action. There was a lot of money spent of infrastructure projects, they began cleaning up and landscaping parklands. They had a 20 year plan for the City and they began to make the changes that would enable the things that were planned in the future.
When re-inventing yourself, you have to be able to wake up each morning and notice tangible changes to remind you that you are now in a new phase of your life. Ask yourself, what are some of the traps that the old you fell into that you’re hoping to avoid in your new re-invented life? Now, what are some things that you can physically change that will help prevent you from falling into those old traps?
What are some new traits that you want to incorporate into your new identity? What action can you take that would facilitate those new traits becoming habits? It might be that you want to start a Home Business. In this case you might take physical action like setting aside some designated space to have your desk where you just work on your Home Business in that space. If you want to get in shape, it might be that you set up a new space where you’ll keep all your gym clothes so that they’re always on hand for you whenever you want to go to the gym.
Create A New Culture.
Anyone can make small changes. Some of those changes can be insignificant, while others can have far more profound ramifications. But if you want to re-invent yourself, you’ll need to make massive changes. You need to become a different person. That’s not a bad thing, I’m not saying that if you’re a good person now, you’ll become a bad person. But if you’re wanting to re-invent yourself, there must be a reason for that. You want to be a different person to what you are now.
When Newcastle re-invented itself, all of the changes they made, that we’ve talked about above, facilitated a cultural change in the City which had a snow ball effect. The City started attracting new types of people. Young, sophisticated people started moving in. They created demand for more things like luxury standard accommodation. World class apartment buildings started to pop up, which in turn, attracted more of the new breed of residents, the more they came, the more demand there was for high class restaurants and cafes and it just snow balled from there. The more young sophisticates started moving in, they attracted more people like themselves, the more grungy elements started leaving the City and the culture of the City changed.
So start by asking yourself the question, why do you want to re-invent yourself? What do you hope the new you will be able to achieve that you’re not currently achieving? Now, if you’ve made the decision, you’ve made the physical changes that we spoke about above, you now need to establish a new culture for yourself. You need to be YOU 2.0! How will the new you act?
Here’s my challenge for you. If you decide that you want to re-invent yourself, and remember I’m not saying that you need to, but if you decide to, then start by sitting down and writing out a Day In The Life of the New YOU 2.0.
Like attracts like, we attract into our lives more of what we are. What type of things, circumstances and people, will the new YOU 2.0 be attracting into your reality? How will your life change for the better as a result of not only the changes that you have made, but also as a result of all the new things that your new you is attracting into your life?
