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| Just one of the many beautiful sights I was lucky enough to see this year. |
"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better"
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
So it's been FAR too long since I've written. Well I actually write almost everyday, but most of my inner most thoughts & feelings shouldn't be broadcast to the general public ... oops, have I said too much? Crap, I have the tendency to do that.
So where have I been you might ask? You might guess somewhere boring & not worth writing about, but that guess would be way off mark. I took a pretty big trip by myself in July to Paris & Barcelona where I couch surfed & navigated my way through the city of lights & later embraced my inner-gypsy in Barcelona. That trip was amazing, because it really proved to myself (& friends & worried family members) how ballsy I can be, I have the tendency to underestimate myself. I should know better by now :s. I mean c'mon, it's Paris & Barcelona! How could the trip not be ridiculously fantastic?! There were a lot of elements leading up to that trip that caused me to doubt whether I should go or not-- I had just landed a job with benefits, my finances weren't in the best order & I was going across the Atlantic Ocean to two countries I didn't know much about except from the reading I'd done in my Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring book. I didn't even have the luxury of people I'd met before, nor did I know a lick of French!
But hey, life is short & we're bound to regret the opportunities & chances we don't take far more than the ones we do. That trip was inspiring in many ways, & that alone deserves it's own entry, but I came back & felt moved, enough so to quit that job with the benefits, which ended up being pretty lame, actually. Yes, benefits are great, but you know what's better? Respecting where you work, admiring who you work for & being able to evolve because of the work you do. Makes for a happier, healthier life. And that may even mean you won't need the benefits provided by the lame job that stresses you out, but you show up to everyday anyway because you're afraid of not having benefits, which in turn stresses you out more to the point of exhaustion or illness. Ahhhh!!! It's a vicious cycle. But hey a sound mind creates a sound body. True story.
The latest chapter was my trip back home to Panama. Now that, that place certainly deserves it's own entry & it will get one. It really did feel like going back home, but to a home I never knew before. Not to get too sentimental or deep, but getting in touch with your roots & where you come from just grounds you in a way nothing else can. It felt like a missing puzzle piece had finally been snugly put back where it belonged. I've gone back before, but this time was different, because I'm different. The prior visit was my senior year in high school, I'd hardly had any life experience & being raised in the States really does create a sense of culture shock. But give me about a decade & I've seen my fair share of the world & dare I say, become more cultured, but also much more street smart. I've become savvy to the fact that though something can be incredibly different or even strange, it doesn't make it any less beautiful. In fact it's because it does take you out of your element that you can fully appreciate it. Experiences like that have the potential to change you & your life. All I can say to those opportunities is, Bring It! There will be more to come, sooner than later. It's fantastic to be back ;). Cheers!
So where have I been you might ask? You might guess somewhere boring & not worth writing about, but that guess would be way off mark. I took a pretty big trip by myself in July to Paris & Barcelona where I couch surfed & navigated my way through the city of lights & later embraced my inner-gypsy in Barcelona. That trip was amazing, because it really proved to myself (& friends & worried family members) how ballsy I can be, I have the tendency to underestimate myself. I should know better by now :s. I mean c'mon, it's Paris & Barcelona! How could the trip not be ridiculously fantastic?! There were a lot of elements leading up to that trip that caused me to doubt whether I should go or not-- I had just landed a job with benefits, my finances weren't in the best order & I was going across the Atlantic Ocean to two countries I didn't know much about except from the reading I'd done in my Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring book. I didn't even have the luxury of people I'd met before, nor did I know a lick of French!
But hey, life is short & we're bound to regret the opportunities & chances we don't take far more than the ones we do. That trip was inspiring in many ways, & that alone deserves it's own entry, but I came back & felt moved, enough so to quit that job with the benefits, which ended up being pretty lame, actually. Yes, benefits are great, but you know what's better? Respecting where you work, admiring who you work for & being able to evolve because of the work you do. Makes for a happier, healthier life. And that may even mean you won't need the benefits provided by the lame job that stresses you out, but you show up to everyday anyway because you're afraid of not having benefits, which in turn stresses you out more to the point of exhaustion or illness. Ahhhh!!! It's a vicious cycle. But hey a sound mind creates a sound body. True story.
The latest chapter was my trip back home to Panama. Now that, that place certainly deserves it's own entry & it will get one. It really did feel like going back home, but to a home I never knew before. Not to get too sentimental or deep, but getting in touch with your roots & where you come from just grounds you in a way nothing else can. It felt like a missing puzzle piece had finally been snugly put back where it belonged. I've gone back before, but this time was different, because I'm different. The prior visit was my senior year in high school, I'd hardly had any life experience & being raised in the States really does create a sense of culture shock. But give me about a decade & I've seen my fair share of the world & dare I say, become more cultured, but also much more street smart. I've become savvy to the fact that though something can be incredibly different or even strange, it doesn't make it any less beautiful. In fact it's because it does take you out of your element that you can fully appreciate it. Experiences like that have the potential to change you & your life. All I can say to those opportunities is, Bring It! There will be more to come, sooner than later. It's fantastic to be back ;). Cheers!
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| It's 2013. Time to make some sparks fly! |
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