reflection part 1 [march 21] I was emailing a friend recently about how leaving a place close to your heart sucks. It's like you spend all this time sprinkling little bits of yourself here and there and sharing yourself with people, then time speeds up and suddenly you're leaving, feeling quite incomplete & at a loss for what to do about it. I think that's the price we pay for having wandering hearts. We put ourselves back together with bits and pieces of the new places we visit, reigniting our own little flames with the kindness of strangers. It's an unequivocal give & take. |
There will always be a place + a people to be missed. But as I was reminded today, there's always a different kind of beauty right around the corner.
reflection part 2 [march 26]
My goals and plans are about as fluid as water, which I think can scare people sometimes. We live in a society that prizes knowledge over everything; we value absolutes.
My goals and plans are about as fluid as water, which I think can scare people sometimes. We live in a society that prizes knowledge over everything; we value absolutes.
Holding your goals loosely doesn't jive with the world we live in. We are expected to choose our careers at 18 and are at the mercy of loved ones' sharp inhales when we tell them we're changing majors. It takes a lot of courage to give your goals flexibility, to hold them loosely.
I've given myself the vague goal of seeking new experiences and unexplored terrain. This simple goal came about after a bit I read in a book called The Happiness Project, which explained that foreign situations give way to "more intense emotional responses and make the passage of time seem slower and richer." I want to be so alive each and every day that I feel like I've lived longer than just 23 years of life. I never want my senses to become numb to the beauty around me, nor do I want to fall into the trap of contentment.
That last part is tough for me; I like finally feeling at home in a place. I've written quite a bit on here and on my blog about the heartache of leaving places I love. But that raw pain is near tangible proof of how very alive that particular place made me feel. The pain of leaving is a reminder of the immense joy I have experienced and the depth of the love I have felt.
New experiences allow us to fully experience every emotion uninhibited. It's scary and radical and so incredibly worth it.