It's not even a week, yet what had been my life for 7 years and 10 days, seems like a decade ago.
Nothing in life is constant, and for new beginnings, there must be endings, so open-heartedly I anticipate the changes in this new phase of my life, regardless of whatever uncertainty lies ahead.
The experience of living in different places has its advantages and disadvantages, the weather being one of them...
Being from the tropical paradise Jamaica, there was a time when I only had an appreciation for summertime - real sunny days and warm nights, and I'd frown at all other seasons which all seemed like winter (they made me want to hibernate).
I'll fondly remember my time living in the Philippines, where I'd take short walks to the sea in my back yard, and I'd spend many days dry on the rocks, meditating, reflecting, conceptualizing, and reconnecting with myself.
The valuable lessons and experiences presented to me have helped to develop and ground me.
Taught me the following:
In many ways, I'd say I feel liberated.
My mind is free 馃檹
Being back in the UK - which feels like home, my appreciation for grey, cold, sunshine, and a mixture of all weathers at once, makes me realize how far I've come.
I believe we (humans) have a great ability to complicate things, and while I've craved, and I'm carving the desired way for me to live, love, and enjoy a simple life, I'm overjoyed that a personal dream of mine to live on a narrowboat has come true.
I keep telling myself that I'm not a water baby because it is indeed so, and although I love looking at the sea for meditative benefits, I've always been a lover of rivers and honestly find beauty in the nature which surrounds canals.
I have slept well the past 5 nights, not only as a result of an extremely comfy mattress, but by the stillness and freshness of nature, and cute, joyful sounds of quacking ducks, geese, swans, and many other animals which glide peacefully and gracefully along the canal.
I'm looking forward to my mother-in-law teaching and helping me to identify all these new types of birds and creatures that are allowing me to share their spaces with them.
Samsara?
I do feel like this is the rebirth of not only myself but a reviving and actualization of a dream shared between me and Cameron @scubahead.
They say nothing happens before the right time, and this applies to the abilities of my husband and myself, to live together and transform to the requirements of living on a small narrowboat.
I've had the desire and yearned for a simple minimalistic life for a very long time, and this is the start of it.
With all being said, my journey around the world has given me the insight that it's not what we do in life, it's how we experience it and how we react to everything (good and bad), that comes our way.
Personal reminder: sometimes it's hard to choose between the past and the future, but that's ok, because I don't have to. The Present is all I have, so I'll enjoy it 馃寛