Sunday, January 16, 2011
It’s been one year since I returned from being abroad. I was fortunate to get to reminisce with a friend who just returned state side from a similar experience. She asked me how it felt to come home and if I struggled to get back into the swing of things. Caught off guard, I pressed rewind and thought about my re-adjusting…all I came out with was “no”. YES, I was indeed sad that my vagabonding lifestyle was at an end but I didn’t actually think about it like that. My friend seemed upset, she was down that her high had come to an end and it was back to the real world. I laughed to myself, the real world you say? Ha so we all just drift between a reality and lavish escapes?
It seemed pointless to base my sanity and emotional state on what’s next. All I knew is it was time to leave one place and move on to the next; whether it was somewhere I had already been or not…there was no real world from which I fled. To focus on the ending of things would only put you in a mind state of the past by consistently reliving old times. These people would be described as: Bittersweet, sentimental, wishful, unforgettable, yearning, reminiscent, and longing. We’ve all meet them, it seems like every time you talk it’s the same draining, dull, woe is me conversation about how things were “so much better when _________(insert excuse here)”. I always figure, why not just make your current situation better? Call me a futurist but I’d rather talk about what is to come than what has passed. The time and energy spent mending broken ties and living in the past would be better put to use if implemented into the here and now.
My brother once said to me: “Is this the end or just the beginning in disguise?”
That has always stuck with me. Every single day I wake up and think about what the day might bring; happiness, sadness, joy, luck, courage, frustration, laughter. The future isn’t to be thought about in terms of year, how about in terms of today or even minutes and seconds. That is the real future, what is right in front of you now. Becoming conscious of this is what gets me out of my damn bed every morning (coffee helps). I love it all; every feeling I get is seized. I remember telling myself sometime as a child that I wished I could experience every emotion available to humans regardless of the nature. When tragedies occur, I can enjoy them. The problems bring a new opportunity to learn about; decisions, people, and your own cognitive thought process. I ask myself, how did I deal with this, why am I thinking about it this way, is there a more realistic approach, am I missing something, what can be learned from it? It is important to try and adjust the lens upon which you gaze. This helps to get off your high horse and analyze your own self. Many people choose not to do this, perhaps because they are scared to find something they don’t like. They may realize the way they acted was immature or even more deep the things they thought (not even acted upon) are skewed.
So now what does this leave you with? It leaves you with yourself, one can choose to ignore what they found, burry it into the bottom of the brain (which is sure to re-surface later), or face the facts, accept the consequences, learn and grow. Being able to complete this process is what determines success and happiness. I’m not sure what I began with at the top of this page and what I am now ending with…hopefully it connects. I just know that too many live in false realities, blaming the environment for their problems instead of considering themselves as an issue. So I suggest taking a step back and looking at how you think about your own life’s problems, what can be adjusted, and then moving the **** on. Life’s a damn journey, accept the highs and lows and I guarantee it’ll be a hell of a ride.