21 months ago I quit my job and sold everything I owned to travel around the world independently. During my travels I grew tremendously. My views of the world evolved, my beliefs on life changed and what I value changed. I became a woman who understands her strengths, her weaknesses and her true value. During this time I travelled to 30 countries and saw some of the worlds most remote and beautiful treasures. I visited the Taj Mahal in a traditional sari, got a tattoo in Singapore, walked on the great wall of China, rode a camel around the pyramids in Egypt, bungee jumped off the highest building in the world, scuba dived in the Philippines, rode an elephant in the jungle in Thailand, went to the Theatre in London, and walked 900 km across the Spain! Those are the big things but the real things that happen when one travels can't be written in words.
I set out to see the world. Not expecting to change or to 'find myself'. Yet, as the stamps collected in my passport, I too was growing. Changing in ways that are indescribable to the human mind. Indescribable to the heart. The world changed me. It sculpted me into a woman who had a greater acceptance for all things, people, foods and experiences. The world, or travel, whichever you prefer, taught me like a gentle kindergarden teacher. Lessons about the value of life, myself and about difference. I look back now and realize how young in mind I was. How naive and afraid of change I was. The world changed that by giving me the opportunity to experience moments so unlike anything known to me that the only option was to evolve and adapt. When I reflect back on my life before this grand adventure, I don't even recognize the person I was. It is like I've had two lives and no longer know the other person.
I believe with my whole heart that I needed this life experience to become who I was meant to be. And needed this life experience, the chance to grow independently before I could mature enough and become open enough to accept love into my life. In my 'previous life', I had experienced my fair share of relationships. Many of which I thought, at the time, were right for me. Now I realize, I was still too young and undeveloped to truly know the type of partner I wanted. So, it was through leaving behind everything I knew and unintentionally finding myself that the most precious treasure of my journey walked into my life. He is my best friend, in every sense of the term. And the one who I will defy odds with, build an unconventional life with and conquer dreams with.
So, here I sit in a coffee shop in Burlington, Ontario 21 months after my travels, reflecting on the beauty of the last two years of my life. Sometimes I think it was all the dream but then Liam kisses my forehead or grabs my hand and I remember it wasn't a dream. It was real and I made it happen!
I travelled around the world, found myself, fell in love and returned a woman. There is nothing I would change about my journey, nothing I regret in my life and everything in life to look forward to! I can say without a doubt in my heart that the world is a friendly, beautiful place. And tonight I will fall asleep starting a map of the world on the wall in our new apartment. And tomorrow I will start a new job, in a new city and begin a new chapter of my beautiful life.
I set out to see the world. Not expecting to change or to 'find myself'. Yet, as the stamps collected in my passport, I too was growing. Changing in ways that are indescribable to the human mind. Indescribable to the heart. The world changed me. It sculpted me into a woman who had a greater acceptance for all things, people, foods and experiences. The world, or travel, whichever you prefer, taught me like a gentle kindergarden teacher. Lessons about the value of life, myself and about difference. I look back now and realize how young in mind I was. How naive and afraid of change I was. The world changed that by giving me the opportunity to experience moments so unlike anything known to me that the only option was to evolve and adapt. When I reflect back on my life before this grand adventure, I don't even recognize the person I was. It is like I've had two lives and no longer know the other person.
I believe with my whole heart that I needed this life experience to become who I was meant to be. And needed this life experience, the chance to grow independently before I could mature enough and become open enough to accept love into my life. In my 'previous life', I had experienced my fair share of relationships. Many of which I thought, at the time, were right for me. Now I realize, I was still too young and undeveloped to truly know the type of partner I wanted. So, it was through leaving behind everything I knew and unintentionally finding myself that the most precious treasure of my journey walked into my life. He is my best friend, in every sense of the term. And the one who I will defy odds with, build an unconventional life with and conquer dreams with.
So, here I sit in a coffee shop in Burlington, Ontario 21 months after my travels, reflecting on the beauty of the last two years of my life. Sometimes I think it was all the dream but then Liam kisses my forehead or grabs my hand and I remember it wasn't a dream. It was real and I made it happen!
I travelled around the world, found myself, fell in love and returned a woman. There is nothing I would change about my journey, nothing I regret in my life and everything in life to look forward to! I can say without a doubt in my heart that the world is a friendly, beautiful place. And tonight I will fall asleep starting a map of the world on the wall in our new apartment. And tomorrow I will start a new job, in a new city and begin a new chapter of my beautiful life.
