Home

After a long 24 hour journey and a wonderful 3.5 months living out of my backpack, I’m finally home.

I have so many feelings about it. But most importantly, I am so glad to be back in my own bed, with my dog and looking forward to seeing my friends and family members again.  

There will be so many things I’ll miss about exploring the world. How everyday was always a new adventure and that my key worries were mainly around finding a good restaurant, a good place to set my yoga mat to fit in a session, and a hotel / hostel that wouldn’t give me bed bugs.

There’s something about seeing the world that makes me appreciate home so much more. And it brought me closer to my memories too. On my final day in Abu Dhabi, I went on a desert tour which entailed a ride in a 4x4 vehicle, sand boarding and a camel ride.

While we were in the car, the driver drove quickly up and down sand mounds and made many sharp turns - to mimic a rollercoaster. I spent the bulk of the ride trying not to throw up and just kept looking ahead out in the horizon.

The nausea was so familiar - it brought me back to a memory of being at Disney World with my family and getting way too nauseous on a rollercoaster. After throwing up, my dad had taken me to the car and let me rest in the car until I felt better. On that same trip, I had gotten car sick during our 30+ hour drive back to Toronto and fell asleep with a balloon tied around my wrist. But when I awoke, I was devastated to look back behind the car to see that the balloon had gotten carried out by the wind coming in from the open window. As an adult, I now bring Dramamine whenever I travel and double tie all my knots.

I’ve always had this deep desire to travel and see the world. And I realize that I am especially drawn to it because I can not only make new memories but also reconnect with old ones. It also allows me to connect more with myself, meet people from all over the world and see what/who I appreciate most in my life. 

I don’t think I knew how much I needed to go on this trip until I left. I was spread so thin juggling way too many things and treating everything as a priority. During these last few months, I’ve been doing this exercise called 8760 Hours. It’s a little workbook that guides you on getting the most out of the hours in a year. In a nutshell, you have a look at the 12 key areas of your life and do a bunch of reflections / mind-mapping with the guide of a number of prompts and questions. My key takeaways from the exercise and just just the last few months in general were:

1. I’d like to make more time for my mindfulness practice

2. Not everything that is urgent is a priority 

3. Failing to have a list of priorities can lead to a really busy life that is not necessarily a productive and/or intentional life

4. It’s important to take time to reflect on your values and ensure that you’re living your life according to those values. It’s otherwise very easy spending all your time responding to a notification, an email, text message, tweet, etc. 

5. It feels really good to take time to reflect on what you’re grateful for 

6. It’s also good to list out your accomplishments and achievements from time to time 

7. It’s good to have conversations with people (especially people you don’t know well) about what their purpose is 

8. It’s not always true that when you’re doing what you love that the money will follow. It’s always good to do what you love, but you also need to have a plan for the financial side of things too. And it might not be what you love that is what brings the money. 

9. Bring anti-nausea pills with you always.

10. There are many, many kind people out in the world. And a lot of them just want to be helpful.

11. Routines are good but it’s also good to spice it up sometimes.

12. No sabes si vale la pena hasta que lo pruebes

Sunset in Abu Dhabi