My Journey Part 1

Before I can move forward, I feel I need to explain why I do what I do, and why this blog is so important to me. On the ”About Me” page, I talked about wanting to share my story. Well I would now like to share a part of that story with you.

It all started in my childhood. Of course you are probably thinking. Don’t most people’s problems and struggles start in childhood? I would have to say yes for many of us, and I am no different. First things first, I always dreamed there was more to life. Always! As long as I can remember. I used to sit by the river in my hometown and simply dream of the life I wanted. Dream of travelling the world and discovering everything it had to offer! I just felt there was a better life out there than what I had experienced so far.

Now let’s start with school since that’s where kids spend most of their time. People would often say how smart I was in elementary school. Everything was easy for me and I would pride myself to always being one of the teacher’s top student. Than my bike accident happened in 8th grade and everything changed without me realizing it at the time. We didn’t make a big deal of the accident because in those days, if you didn’t lose consciousness and walked out of it in whole piece you were for the most part, good to go. Except for the fact that I litterally flew over my bike, head first onto the pavement, scrapping my whole face in the process, I was all good to go! However, learning became difficult after that. It would take me twice as long to remember things and understand my school work. I never thought back than that maybe the bike accident had something to do with it. I just thought that I wasn’t that smart after all!

From 8th grade onwards, school was no longer a piece a cake. I was already very shy, and now everything required much more effort than what I was used to. Did I mention that I was also labelled by my parents, relatives and friends as being a very emotional child. I would cry for the smallest things, but would also completely loose it when things didn’t go my way! When I mean loose it, I truly mean there was no turning back. I would hit my parents and call them names. Afterwards I would always feel terrible. I know my temper tantrums were not normal. However, my emotions would always take over. I simply couldn’t find in me a way to control my anger and temper.

Now let’s move forward approximately 10 years, to my last year of undergraduate studies. After graduating, I decided that was it! I wanted to do what I had always dreamed of doing, and that was discover THE world! I spent the next 3 years travelling the world, to Israel as a volunteer in a kibbutz, to Europe to follow my English boyfriend at the time, to end up in Australia to get my heart broken once again and the Philippines as a volunteer in a shelter for young woman living on the streets. For someone who was looking to experience THE world, I sure became an expert at it!

Unfortunately there’s an end to every rainbow, and in 1996 it was time for me to travel back home, only to discover that no one had really changed, except ME. I was NOT the same person. I had changed and had discovered that I was much more resilient than I had ever given myself credit for. I also discovered that life was full of amazing people. I had made friends while away, and discovered that I wasn’t that shy little girl any longer. I also realized that there WAS more to life than what we allow ourselves to experience day in and day out. There WAS more to people than what meets the eye, there WAS more experiences to live and more love to experience. Travelling like I did gave me a love for life that I had never experienced before!

Do you see where I’m going with this? I love life and believe that it can be amazing, but only if we are willing to ”feed your brain” with new experiences, sometimes new relationships, and new adventures! This doesn’t mean you have to travel the world like I did to experience life. There are many ways to experience life, which can mean for you maybe learning a new skill, creating new friendships, finding a job you love, or again working on your already existing relationships instead of taking them for granted.

For the purpose of the post, I will stop here so I can keep it short and sweet. What I would like you to remember for now is this. You are not stuck with your life, you can always make it better! How? By stepping out of your comfort zone, one step at a time. By believing that you are meant for more! By knowing that there IS more! Trust me on this one. There is truly more to life than what meets the eye. I leave you with this quote that I find expresses nicely what many of us are truly seeking.