Upon my return to Bowling Green I haven't written anything. My grandmother asked me if I had forgotten how to write and my response was, why, yes, I do believe I HAVE. It's definitely not that there isn't anything to write about here. That is completely not true. I'm inspired by something every day and there have been more than a few times where I say to myself "Ellie, you need to remember to write that down."
But I haven't. And for that, I apologize.
I'm will try to capture the mindset I had in Nepal and apply it to America. It was a better one. It's so much more fun to experience everything right in the moment--to see everything with wide open eyes--just absorbing it all as if it's the first and last time, then, after absorption, truly thinking about it.
It's funny how life just keeps on going. Even if part of your brain is stuck in a time five weeks past, life around you (along with the other parts of your brain) keeps going. You meet people, you travel, you catch up with old friends and make new ones, you start getting your chai lattes iced because the seasons have changed. Heck, you start paying four bucks for a tea when a few months ago you could get one for less than fifteen cents.
It's also funny how I totally stand out in Nepal and Eastern Africa. Without even considering culturally I stand out physically. When I'm as tan as I should be I still glow in comparison. Yet in America, I blend in pretty well physically; it's just the emotional and mental part that does't fit in. It's much harder to cope that way, I think. If people didn't know you before they won't notice the change. You might feel like they should notice because it was a big moment for you. But, I've learned that you can't force anything on anyone. It's not even that important that anyone else knows how your experiences have shaped you. They'll experience it for themselves when they're good a ready and then you'll both just know.
You will always meet people who have had similar experiences and feel the same way. You stumble upon them randomly and when you do you realize that we're all connected. We shall share something. Sometimes you just have to feel it, but it's there.
Something I kept telling myself in Nepal, and what I should tell myself here and for the rest of my life, as well, is to embrace everything. Live in that moment.
embraceverb1 hug, take/hold in one's arms, entwine oneself around2 welcome, welcome with open arms, accept, take up, take to one's heart, adopt, support.3 include, take in, comprise, contain, incorporate, encompass, cover, involve, embody, subsume, comprehend.noun: bear hug.
Exactly.
It's funny how life just keeps on going. Even if part of your brain is stuck in a time five weeks past, life around you (along with the other parts of your brain) keeps going. You meet people, you travel, you catch up with old friends and make new ones, you start getting your chai lattes iced because the seasons have changed. Heck, you start paying four bucks for a tea when a few months ago you could get one for less than fifteen cents.
It's also funny how I totally stand out in Nepal and Eastern Africa. Without even considering culturally I stand out physically. When I'm as tan as I should be I still glow in comparison. Yet in America, I blend in pretty well physically; it's just the emotional and mental part that does't fit in. It's much harder to cope that way, I think. If people didn't know you before they won't notice the change. You might feel like they should notice because it was a big moment for you. But, I've learned that you can't force anything on anyone. It's not even that important that anyone else knows how your experiences have shaped you. They'll experience it for themselves when they're good a ready and then you'll both just know.
You will always meet people who have had similar experiences and feel the same way. You stumble upon them randomly and when you do you realize that we're all connected. We shall share something. Sometimes you just have to feel it, but it's there.
Something I kept telling myself in Nepal, and what I should tell myself here and for the rest of my life, as well, is to embrace everything. Live in that moment.
embraceverb1 hug, take/hold in one's arms, entwine oneself around2 welcome, welcome with open arms, accept, take up, take to one's heart, adopt, support.3 include, take in, comprise, contain, incorporate, encompass, cover, involve, embody, subsume, comprehend.noun: bear hug.
Exactly.
I would give you a hug RIGHT NOW! You say this is just a start, but it is truly amazing. You have this way of describing life, even normal American life, in a really inspiring way.
ReplyDeletePlease keep writing. :)