The world is full of places that make each of us "happy" but sometimes there are those magical places, the ones that speak to your soul, beckon you to never leave and set your heart ablaze.
They are home, the place of your dreams and where you are meant to be. You can't get enough of them no matter how long you stay and everything in life just seems to make sense when you're there.
Several years ago I began craving a much simpler life. A life that isn't dictated by corporate America, other people or even time. Where the only thing that matters is what's truly important: the people I choose to love and the life I choose to live. A place where hard work means something. A place where I can make a difference and simply be who I am.
For a long time this life seemed to be something I just dreamed up. Completely unattainable! I mean logically I know other people do it all the time and that there are those living the life of their dreams but for me it seemed so far fetched I could hardly see it as more than a dream.
I'd never seen it with my own eyes, never been a part of it so how could I believe it could be real.
How would I support myself? Where would I live? How would life go on if I just stopped doing what I've been doing for over half my life? How would pay I the bills? Could I really be good at something else? What if this makes me more miserable than I already am? The questions are always endless and self doubt is a big ol' pain in the rear.
Now, you have to understand I was raised to believe that having a job and keeping a regular paycheck were what was required to "make a living" and I've spent every day of the last 18 years busting my booty for some fat cat corporate clowns who don't care a thing about me or anyone else who works for them for that matter and I am beyond tired.
After my divorce I changed my whole life in an attempt to correct my path and find where I was supposed to be (and I don't regret it for a second, it's lead me to some fabulous people) but I've come to realize that of all the changes I made, one of the biggest ones never happened.
Though I was in a new place, it was the same exact kind of place I'd left behind. A noisy, constantly going town full of people I have no interest in knowing who are mostly out for themselves or so lost in the rat race that they can't see themselves slowly dying with noting to show for it.
As horrible as it is to admit, I have been one of them for a long time but as scary as it may be, change is a blessing. Without change we die!
It's easy, so very easy to make surface changes (our hair, our homes, our friends, our city) but without a change in perspective and a serious deep down look at what you really want, what you are willing to sacrifice for it and what you are willing to do to keep it every other change you make is useless.
Those changes can lead to great things but they will ALWAYS lead you back to where you started, feeling desperate, lost and disheartened. Life is about love; loving what you do, loving who your with, loving who you are and loving where you belong, and without love life just isn't worth living.
Luckily, I was fortunate enough to be given an amazing opportunity to see first hand how life outside my little world worked and you know what?
It wasn't scary. It wasn't so far fetched. It was peaceful and magical. It made my heart fill with joy at the thought of a new forever. It felt beautiful and real and so very "me" that I never wanted to leave.
Sure this new way of life would be hard. Sure it'd have it's own challenges. It will most certainly involve sacrifices but I have no doubt that something better would come out of it.
And though I've left it behind for the moment and come back to my present reality I know now that it is there, waiting for me, not so far away or so unreachable.
'til next time,
Misty
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