The unyielding and ever increasing desire to live a life that knows no restrictions walks hand in hand with a pressure to succeed that draws upon those same characteristics. It's difficult to choose between your head and your heart when your head doesn't know what the hell your heart is talking about.

The pull to fly away into cities I've never seen, filled with people I've never met, is tantalisingly strong. To surround myself with a knowledge gained from experience - it seems to make the most sense if I want to have any chance at making my words matter. Books surely must only take me so far. Wouldn't it be better to experience foreign sunrises, storms, laughter and excitement first hand then to fantasise about it as I do now?

Yet to throw myself straight into the world of words also holds a logic my brain comprehends well. Being thrown into the ocean isn't always a bad way to learn how to swim, although to drown early on would have a devastating affect on your career. So how can I be sure as to what is the right decision when it comes to my future?

I thought picking a uni was hard enough - now I have to consider how I want the next chapter of my life to begin. I don't believe in leaving everything up to chance, I'm far too stubborn for that. What I do believe in is the capacity for a person to fall into a rhythm of life that plays to their strengths.

I suppose I'm afraid of making the wrong choice. A vain thought but one that persists nonetheless.

Write to me one day,
Nikki Keating.

There is a real beauty in doing simple things with people you love. And when you take the time to do the simple things you notice parts of your world that make it worth living. Like the little things you notice about someone you love. I know that the sound of laughter is one of the most precious sounds in my life and many of the people I love do it well. Or like the tiny details that stick out in your memory. The smell of pine, the glare of the sun, the absence of sound and the texture of a book. These are all little things that stick in my mind and make me happy.

It's the strange little details of simpiler times that can define your relationship with someone else. Eating breakfast with your family in the morning, everyday, is a simply mundane act that you'll always remember. It becomes such a big part of your morning that when one of your family isn't there you notice it and it changes your whole day. Coco Pops suddenly seem duller and not even mixing nutella and peanut butter together on your toast fills that gap.

So the next time you have breakfast and they're there at the table you'll notice how their bed hair favours the left side of their head and that it takes them five mouthfuls of cereal before they become a fully functioning member of society again. And you'll remember it.

But, in my pursuit to do as much as humanly possible in the time I'm given to live, it's always the simple things that warm the cockles of my heart.

Write to me one day,
Nikki Keating.

We're driving south past big rivers, loud trucks and smokey horizons. The sun's making it's way down and silhouetting everything in perfect orange light. It's one of the best times of the day on a road trip. Probably second only to darkness giving away to the light blues and yellows of early morning. It's the kind of light that sets the scene for anything. This kind of light never fails to make me reminisce.

I think tonight we're looking for a motel around New Castle - not bad for a day's travel. My death grip on the steering wheel has given way to a firm hold which the leather, and my knuckles, are thankful for. It could be because the leaves are turning red and gold, because it's 22 degrees in the car and 14 degrees outside or because I just drank half a liter of RedBull but I'm tickled pink right now.

There's just something about road trips through the country.

Write to me one day,
Nikki Keating.

I suppose if this blog is about what I learn and what I experience then you should know a little bit about me. I have never been good autobiographical anythings. So, this will be more of a collection of random things that inspire me, in no particular order at all.

For me, as well as thousands of other people, music is necessary in my life. I don't particularly mind what kind either. If it speaks to you, if it makes you cry or sing or day dream then it's good music. I have been largely inspired by a few artists in particular.

Music became vital to me when I was fifteen.

Riding shotgun with my Dad and my sisters in the back of the car, mountain bikes strapped to the back and Blink 182 blasting out of the speakers.

Cruising along the road with my Mum and sisters, heading for Currumbin, Pete Murray and the Foo Fighters making waking up at six am to surf all the better.

Listening to Linkin Park in my room while I studied.

Belting out Taylor Swift, Toby Keith and the Spice Girls on Roadtrips.

Discovering Rise Against.

It was the strangest collection of bands and musicians that spoke to me. Two particular groups I owe much to; Rise Against and the Dixie Chicks. When I was younger it was the music that I loved, it was the ability to drift in and out of moods. Further on I realised that the lyrics spoke to me in ways I couldn't quite grasp but that intrigued me and provoked me. Now, I know that, along with all of those elements, the ability for these groups to do what they love and still make a difference, politically and socially, is what makes me love them again and again.

I listen to songs I can't dance to, and sing songs I don't like to listen to. Why? I have absolutely no idea. It's just how I work.

To further establish how little genre matters to me I'll paint you a picture of sorts.
I listen to music that makes me look at my life through different eyes. I don't want to be comfortable. I want to question authority and power, the economy and status of class through music. I also want to look at my life in hindsight every now and then. Music helps me do that.

Write To Me One Day,

Nikki Keating.

There are many beautiful things on this planet.

For me, travelling is one of the most beautiful. The written and spoken word following closely.
I believe in the beauty of a world that is not compromising, nor complacent. I believe in a world of odds and even. Of rights and wrongs. Yet, I would have to say that most of all, I believe in a world dominated by the human condition.

There is much I have yet to experience, and so very much left to learn. The words I will write will mean much to myself and perhaps very little to anyone else. But I write them to make sure that I experience and learn. I cannot say what this blog will be about. It may be entirely spontaneous. I trust that will come in time. For now I am only aiming to put thought into text.

Write To Me One Day,

Nikki Keating.