Last week I was at a family wedding and my Aunt went to me 'So you're throwing away all your life savings and going travelling' and I said confidently 'Yep!' with a big grin on my face. I can't wait to start this new chapter of my life and here are a few reasons why:
- To break bad habits.
Life falls into routine. Currently I wake up, have some tea and a carbohydrate goodness on my balcony, go to work, come home, bitch about work to Kevin, go to sleep. This is pleasantly interspersed with outings with friends and making terrariums. That's it. It's OK but there's an ever growing pressure within me to shake up the routine. I took a different bike route home yesterday. That was fun. But soon, every day will be a bit different. Every street will be new. Is it scary? No, it's exhilarating The thought of it makes my heart beat a little bit faster.
- I have arms and legs and I'm going to use them
Recently a close friend of mine had a serious health scare which has spooked me deeply. After sleepless nights and shedding a few tears, I know that there's nothing I can do. I can't change what's happening to him and I can only try to be the best person I can for him and myself. Health is so important. So many people (including myself) take their health for granted. They can run, jump, dance and yet they don't. You can a ride your bike to work (which also saves you and the environment on a bit of petrol) and yet you don't. Why not? We're going to be hiking, walking, exploring all whilst carrying everything we own on our backs. Whilst I have functional limbs, I'm going make the most of them.
- To explore different cultures
I'm a immigrant that came into Australia in 1987 in a plane via a Malaysian refugee camp. More about that later. All I've ever known is how to be Australian. To live in the suburbs with my primarily Asian-Australian friends growing up. We've gone through university, some have gotten married, most have jobs and most still living in Sydney. When I went back to Vietnam for the first time in 2000 it was a rude shock for me. THIS is what my life could have been like. A parallel life in a third world country. I couldn't process it. So even though that was my motherland, I couldn't accept it. Yet I've never been easy here either. The occassional racisim (half times unintentional), the natural grouping of racial communities in Sydney, the natural rudeness of people on the street, I need to find another place. I need to see some wrong places and hopefully some right places and find where I fit in the world.
- To be brand new
When you're travelling, no one knows who you are, where you're from, what you did (I'm pretty sure that's a Backstreet Boys song I'm channelling). So its a good chance to try to be the best person you can be and do it consistently. No regrets to dwell on. No old hang ups. I'm currently trying (as we all should I guess) to be kind, considerate, witty, interesting but I guess you can start to get a bit lazy when you see the same people all the time. You fall into old habits. I've changed a lot in the last year and I want to leave that shell I've shed behind but people who I haven't seen in a year or two pop up and are a bad reminder. Its time to cut the cord and start fresh elsewhere.
-To get ideas
My world is currently quite small and I know I need to expand it. I need fresh ideas to fuel the activity in my brain. I know I have the capacity to do much more with my life, I want to be useful and make a difference somehow, someway. I've just got to find my purpose in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment