Just arrived in Sydney after spending three fun-filled, glorious days in Newport Beach, CA with an old college friend, who made me laugh and allowed me to be carefree before my big journey ahead.
There is a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" masterpiece (however cliche some may think this piece of literature is, I will always love this book), so the quote goes:
"If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting (which can be anything from your house to your bitter old resentments) and set out on a truth-seeking journey (either externally or internally), and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared – most of all – to face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourself... then truth will not be withheld from you." Or so I've come to believe.”
Today, my friends, I repeated this quote in my head and it gave me peace , I told myself "This is a lesson, it will help you seek the truth you want to find in life and this moment will teach you many more times over". In that way (after FaceTiming and crying profusely to my parents), I became humbled.
When all hope was lost, my cell-phone being left on the plane, my friend's luggage falling out of the shuttle while en route to the hotel and being left on the side of the road, and feeling exhausted and frustrated, when I realized this was all part of a lesson, it allowed me to keep things in perspective (and, yes, that really did happen).
So my lessons for today are (even after much frustration):
1) Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to realize just what you need in that moment~ I needed to call my parents and wail.
2) Seek assistance when needed and be grateful that there always seem to be people willing to help. Let them know how much you appreciate their support.
3) Allow yourself to laugh. My stay with my friend in California was not by accident, I think I needed his humor and carefree attitude before getting on a 14 hour flight (especially knowing, my life will change in the next 6 months). If I was a ball-of-nerves, I would have REALLY not been able to handle being so overwhelmed. For this I am grateful.
4) Cherish where you are in life and that you have opportunities around you that most people will never experience in their lifetime.
5) Welcome sleep (with that, I sign off from Sydney, Australia)
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