This Is Living...
"...Every step feels so brand new. It's hard to jump with no net but I've jumped and got no regret."
During the past two weeks I learned what living is and let me tell you...it's exactly what everyone hyped it up to be! Remember when I wrote about how important it is to dream and that daydreaming leads to living...I took my own advice and made my dreams into a reality.I spent my last few weeks in Australia (my dream place), Dubai, and Italy. It was as if one day I was wishing and hoping to see Australia at least once in my lifetime and the next, I was petting Koalas and Kangaroos at Steve Irwin's zoo in Brisbane! I went sightseeing in Newcastle and skydiving in Picton, Australia. Most of my time was spent in Sydney where I met new people and got a new tattoo.
It's not exactly what I did in Australia that made it memorable or that made it all worth it, it's what I learned. I learned about adventure and risk taking, but those weren't the most important lessons. The lesson that mattered the most to me was the lesson of learning to live. For so long, I was just simply existing in a world that would someday kill me and it wasn't until I actually went out to see the world that I learned there was an alternative to existing...and it's called LIVING!
For those of you who never experienced life, this is what it feels like: better than dreaming. When Dr. Seuss once said "you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams" he didn't just mean falling in love with a significant other. For the first time ever, I felt like I was in love with life and I wouldn't trade it for anything. There is no greater feeling than doing exactly what you always dreamed of. There is no greater feeling than knowing that you can't get better than reality. There's something so rewarding when you can say to yourself "this is living..."
I've had my trying times and I had my moments where I wanted to not exist and give it all up but the last few weeks made me grateful that I decided to stick around. How could I give up the possibility of living my dreams and seeing more of the world than I ever thought of? My whole point is to say: never give up because your present is messy. Where you are right now doesn't depict where you will be or end up. Don't worry if you're not "living" at the moment, work on bringing yourself to life. Learn to say forget everything and everyone and do what makes you happy. Take the driver's seat so you can eventually let go and become the passenger and see all of the sights as you drive by.
Getting lost in a new and foreign town was both amazing and scary. At one point I told my boyfriend "let's get lost and see things we didn't plan on seeing." It was during moments like this one that I realized how important learning to live is. Sometimes just learning to enjoy the ride is all you need to pick up on the lesson.
This post wasn't meant to be long, it was meant to tell everyone else to learn the lesson that I learned over the past two weeks. I discovered that existing and living truly are two different concepts and we all should learn the second one before it's too late. Life is short but it can be filled with so many wonders if you let it in. Become the world's passenger and be sure to look around and enjoy the view.
Enjoy a few pictures from my trip to Australia while I made stops in Dubai and Italy!
