Springing into Spring

Spring is upon us, so why not begin with some spring cleaning, so we can really "spring" into spring?

There is something natural in the seasons that urges our innate to re-examine our lives, prepare for renewal, shed all the dead weight of the past, leave what no longer serves us behind and rightfully step into the now.

What is it that doesn't serve you right now? If you take a close look at your life, how is it different from the best life that you can imagine for yourself? what is holding you back?

Through a number of occurrances of the last few days, it has become apparent to me what needs to be changed. When you become committed to inner growth, all of your dark and grey areas will become exposed. It is your choice how to proceed from then on, but for me, there is no choice- I am committed to going all the way. I’ve spent a lot of time on bettering myself as a human being, getting over my emotional blocks and pains,-so I can recognize the patterns and, hopefully, not get stuck in them again.

I am determined to live my life with an open heart, shine my light brightly, unapologetically. Those who deserve to be close, who can contribute to that open heart, will be close- those who can help expand that heart even wider, will be even closer, teaching me the biggest lessons of all. But those who have no purpose being near, who have served their role, will fall away like the autumn leaves off a mighty tree.

Spread your wings, butterfly.

Such is the renewal cycle of life. What doesn’t serve your highest purpose, will fall off. Those who recognize your real self and the message you carry, will want to be near. They will come from all directions, old friends and newly found soul brothers. Pity not the ones who leave, it is their choice in life- stay committed to your life and purpose. Shine even more brightly than ever.

Release your shackles, you dead weight, once and for all. Whatever is holding you back from living your dream, the greatest version of your life ever possible. If there are people in your circle ridden with negativity and emotional parasitism, ask yourself- what purpose are they serving being there? maybe it is time to let them go? There are two types of people: ones who inspire, who bring out the best in you even on your bad days, and then there are others, who are there to steal your light, to take some of that radiance away from you, because they are not happy themselves, they haven't found their way and their place in the world, they refuse to look within and face what is staring right back at them. As radical as it may seem, I now cut out all the unaware, misguided people like that from my life, I have no use for them. Life is too short to spend it on people who don't want to get better, who don't want to help themselves. It is not our role to change them or to mother them. 

So I disengage from these kind of people from my life. New friends will come, ones worthy of spending your time and energy on. If someone claims to be your friend, but never has anything friendly to offer, doesn’t care about your well being, only their own- that is not someone I want in my life, and neither should you. 

Let us be more mindful of who we chose to spend our time with, how we choose to spend it- are there recurrent patterns you would like to address? Notice your thoughts, your emotions- are some more prevalent than the others? If other people could hear all your thoughts, would that embarrass you? Would you still like yourself then? or is it time for some changes?

Nomad in love?

Prompted by a post from my fellow travel blogger, I have a few words on whether your love of travel is secretly sabotaging your potential for a relationship.

As you may have noticed, I try to keep my private life...well, private. I have other blogs for that kind of stuff. So, since this blog is dedicated to travelling and exploration of the world and the self, from that perspective, I try to streamline my posts to showcase more facts, interesting observations, but something that would be relevant to all the potential readers out there. Hence why my posts are quite sporadic- some days I just need to rant, and this is not the place for that.

That said, this issue of whether or not you will meet someone because you are not stable or rooted in one place doesn't just apply to the travel bugs out there- as an exploration geologist, my life takes me all over the world, sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a month, sometimes indefinitely,-but that is something I knew well in advance when choosing my career, I just didn't know how hard it would be.

Each time I am faced with the decision: is the new adventure worth losing what I have here, right now? And almost always, I hear a resounding “yes!” in my head-what is meant to be, will be. You cannot stop life from happening, but you can stop fear from letting you life your life the way you envision to, or secretly hope to.

As one of my friends once said: "people break up living in the same city every day, why would long-distance relationship automatically be destined for a break-up?" While I whole-heartedly agree that living in the same city does not offer immediate chances for the success of a relationship, having a long-distance relationship is not picnic either (although the comfort of knowing that you won't run into them at your favourite cafe after you break up is a great perk!)

Although there are some great uplifting examples of long-distance working out for committed couples, who have spent more than 2 years apart, only to reunite and get married and live happily ever after(...so far), it takes a fantastic dose of commitment, dedication, trust and,most importantly-great communication skills. Let's face is, when you cannot simply meet up after a disagreement, put your arms around each other, and agree to "forgive and forget", all you have to rely on is skillful communication-avoiding those sharp corners and possible problematic/sensitive topics.

Having said that, distance is not to blame for whether or not your relationship survives. Let's face it, throughout our lives, there will be circumstances when you will be forced to spend time away from your partner-days, weeks, maybe even months-so it is not through avoiding the separation, but rather how one chooses to deal with it that determines the "rate of survival" of this particular relationship. Breaks can be nice: having more time for yourself, your hobbies, meeting with the friends you may have been neglecting, getting to all those projects around the house you keep putting off, going the gym more often (and getting a free "fell-good" hormone boost!) and of course, having time to miss each other -all of this can put the romance back into a relationship, refresh your perspective on life and what is important- when done right.

I've had relationships fall apart equally as fast when a long-distance turned into living together, and vice versa. Despite all the challenges and unknowns, I am a firm believer that you should not let fear stop you-be it fear of missing out, fear of change, or fear of being alone for an indefinite amount of time- and I salute all of you brave souls out there who dare to explore what beyond what is familiar and comfortable. If someone truly wants to share their journey with you, it will happen- regardless of time, place, circumstances and plans.