Weekend Wanderlust: Los Angeles, January 2017
My first weekend away of 2017 was to a familiar destination – Los Angeles. My sister and brother-in-law live there, and only being 2.5 hrs away by plane, it’s an easy weekend away, for a very low cost.
My first weekend away of 2017 was to a familiar destination – Los Angeles. My sister and brother-in-law live there, and only being 2.5 hrs away by plane, it’s an easy weekend away, for a very low cost.
I’m feeling really optimistic this year, and sure, I did last year too, but I really think this year will be different. Not because I think some magical thing will just happen to me. But because I am choosing for this year to be different. And if it’s magical, and I sure hope it will be, it will be because I made it that way.
Even in a year where I felt that everything that could go wrong did go wrong, it actually didn’t. I’ve had to take a step back and look at this year with better perspective. I’ve experienced a lot, grown a lot, and ultimately, have become a better person for it. And considering all the terrible things happening in the world around us, I consider myself so, so lucky to have as many blessings as I do.
People have asked me quite a bit lately, “So, why China?,” and I always give them the same answer – I saw a good deal and figured why not. And while that’s true, it’s not the real reason I decided to take a completely random trip to China.
Each time I feel knocked down, the wind taken out of me, when all I want to do is curl in a ball and never get back up, I have to remember, this is part of the journey. The journey to finding myself. And it may take a lifetime.
How is that, even though I’ve experienced some of the happiest days of my life this year, all I seem to hang on to are the saddest days? Anyone who knows me knows that I am an optimistic person – I always find the silver lining. I always find the lesson, and find a way to move on. And I’ve done this through far, far worse years, so feeling stuck like this just makes me more upset, because I seem to have lost control over my own healing process.
I’ve let myself become small. I’ve let myself get wrapped up by other people, not just this last time, but every time. I tolerate things that I would never tolerate in other situations. I don’t stand up for or advocate for myself that way I constantly advise others to. I’ve let this fear of being alone take over my life, and in a way, forget who I am.
Here’s the thing with travel. If you can physically and financially do it, go. Don’t wait for the time to be right or to take care of this or that at home first. Take the plunge and go.
Basically, we all have a bucket and a dipper. The dipper can fill a bucket or empty a bucket, based on our words and actions. Some people have big buckets and some people have small buckets.
These posts have been slightly depressing, but they’re not meant to be. This trip was amazing – what I have learned may have come out of the less fun parts of the trip, but that’s usually how we learn.
Traveling all over Australia and New Zealand in just over 3 weeks by myself is not a vacation. It was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausting, and when I say I’ve learned things, I mean I’ve learned things about myself and travel and things that go much deeper than packing tips (although I certainly have some of those).
Look closer. Ask questions. Be present. Be inspired – but don’t be jealous – and know that we’re all in this together, and it’ll be way easier to get through life if we’re there for each other and not just curating a life behind a screen.
Right now, I’m sitting on an airplane, three hours and forty-seven minutes into a nine and half hour flight from Honolulu to Brisbane. A place I never would have been if not for the impact that London had on who I am.
All our lives we’re waiting. We wait until the time is right. Until we have enough money. Until they’re old enough. We wait to tell people how we feel. We wait to text. We wait to call. We wait to respond. We wait to start. We wait to grow up. We’re waiting all day and every day for something. Putting something off. Making excuses. One day, each one of us will wake up and realize we’ve spent an entire lifetime waiting, and in the tragedy of life, never get to do things we said we’d do or say because we’ve let our excuses rob us of our time.
Last year at this time, I wrote about my problem with resolutions, and made only one – I resolved to resolve, any day and every day that I needed to. I still stand by those things that I said, and I still think that the January 1st mindset needs to exist every day of the year