Last summer I went to India and I remember reflecting (and blogging) about what I learned there.
I remember learning that expectations can ruin an experience before the experience has even been experienced.
Not like I've brooded on it since, but the thought comes and goes whenever someone asks "What do you want to do?" or "Where do you want to go?".
I wonder how the following will come back to me in the future... :
I got back from my trip a few days ago, sick with a flu/common cold caught from the showers in Venice and developed somewhere along the way in England. This morning I finally had a clear enough head to reflect about what I learned.
Family is so great. They show you their love and support and their true selves without hiding anything. You can learn from them and trust them. They're also close to you, so you can watch them well and learn from them better.
The trip, for me, consisted of two parts, each of which a week long.
In the first week, 30 of us extended family members got on a bus and took a Star Tour around Euroland. We covered a lot of distance in the week, spending more time on the bus than off it (that includes nights which were spent at hotels). This gave us time to hangout with each other. Sharing stories and thoughts and advise and laughs, from which what I learned materialized.
Actually, I don't think you could say I 'learned' this, because I already knew about it and it's not something you learn anyway. It's something you look towards, grow towards, and achieve. It's a goal, a dream.
A long time ago, I had come to the conclusion that I wanted to live young and wild and free. Financially independent, responsible for myself and with the world and imagination at my fingertips, a sky full of stars to play with. A life of exploration and enjoyment. In that first week, hearing the stories of my uncles - that dream got reinvigorated.
In the second week, a bunch of the 30 split apart with the 18 members consisting of my mom's immediate family staying together in my uncle's house. It was a short week, with all of us tired and most of us leaving at the end of it. We tried to make the most of it but it went by so quickly. All I remember is the end.
My uncle, my grandparents and my parents drove me to the bus station where I would catch a bus to Heathrow for my flight. I had already said bye to everyone else at the house, I was the first to leave.
My parents came with me into the station to get me on the right bus. Upon finding it and ready to go I looked back on them. So much emotion passed through me, I'm finding it hard to write this. I don't even understand it. I left my parents there just like I had plenty of times before, but that time was different. I felt a connection to them, a connection that's been there all along but one that just re-upped, full with life and sunlight.
A goal and a connection. Not exactly something I learned but maybe I didn't have to learn something. This blog isn't just about learning, it's about applying and action.
I have a sky above me with clouds to reach for and life to live for.
I have roots under me uplifting me to which ever branch I choose.
I guess those tree metaphors are more applicable than you'd think.
Innovating Life
~ASKalburgi