What time is it? Who cares, the only time is now.
Redefining Happiness
It’s been seventeen days since I’ve left the only home I’ve ever known from the people I love in pursuit of the one of the greatest virtues in life, happiness. While I know that trying to achieve a constant state of happiness is unrealistic, I am working towards fostering an internal happiness that will for the most part, withstand and maintain a positive outlook throughout the difficult and unavoidable fluctuations in life. Yet one of the greatest challenges in this is accepting the fact that these uncertainties do exist; there are no certainties in life. Even so, we spend a majority of our lives co-existing to strive for this perception of perfection that we define for ourselves creating a greater margin for unhappiness when the gaps for achievement become larger and more unattainable. And so, while this journey is one about happiness – it is more about making the significant changes in the ways in which I’ve habituated and having the ability to ignore the trivialities of life external to my pursuit.
The only constant in life, is change.
At a very young age I knew and accepted the fact that the only constant in life is change. If I had lost a friend, moved to a different city, ended a relationship or lost a personal item, I knew that it signified that it was time to close that chapter of my life to start a new one. I saw change as the natural process within the evolution of life, and sometimes holding onto things of the past can be detrimental to the movement onwards; accepting it for what it was worth, appreciating its value and allowing yourself to take from its learnings was how I kept the onward movement in my life. As such, change no matter how good or how bad would come easily to me knowing confidently that it was what I wanted to do.
What’s been different so far on this trip is that change occurs at a naturally faster rate than before, moving from city to city, meeting new people every day, not knowing where we’ll end up next or have our next meal. The only satisfaction of constant within this is the soul within the temple that will always be there when I need it. My old life was full of certainties leaving no fraction of worry for what were the most important things in life – food, shelter, my gadgets and online access. I’ve removed all the external elements of stability from my old life that I was used to, and now I find a greater appreciation for a wider range of things that are truly essential in life. Living out of a 60L backpack from campsite to campsite, many times there is no access to running water, flushable toilets, showers, healthy food and especially electrical outlets for my technology addiction. What’s more interesting is while I do find a greater appreciation for the elements of the natural environment in which we live in, I find technology becoming more and more obsolete as I live day by day. Without the ability to recharge what is the benefit of our gadgets deep within the woods, but water will always rejuvenate, fire will always burn.
Changes on the Trip So Far
If not just for the experiences, this trip has me changing myself in more ways than one so far:
- I wear no make up or do my hair, nor do I feel the need to
- I wear the variations of the same outfits three days in a row and visit the laundromat when I can
- I want to talk to anyone who has a great smile and met the awesome Jordan Bower (@streetcarphoto) who is walking from Vancouver to Mexico to document life in a way that will bring beauty to people
- I take time to breathe and appreciate all the moments that occur all the time around me and its amazing to realize how much life there really is happening all the time
- I visited a clothing optional beach and had the time of my life appreciating the different shapes and sizes of people in their most primitive states
- I use my technology gadgets less and less and rely on nature and humanity more and more to survive and get around
- I find more and more, I am relying on my own mental strength to get me through to the next step – whether its hiking up mountain, a 10km hike, dealing with different personalities or even spraining your ankle in the middle of the forest, I am becoming stronger and stronger each day knowing my mind is working to push my body to conquer it all
- I am content in solitude and in company, I am eager and need a balance of both
Creating New Realities
Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself – anonymous.
Since my last blog post at the beginning of this journey, I’ve written about three intended blog posts as a follow up to the current updates on this trip. But with each variation, the more dissatisfied I became. What do I really want to write about? What is the purpose of each blog post here on in? Am I going to write about the things I see and do on as a tourist in each city I visit? Am I creating an online journal to keep a running log of everything that happens? Or am I reflecting on this adventure and how it pertains to the journey to pura vida, and what that even means? I’m not sure. What I do know is that I have had to constantly remind myself that this journey is the furthest thing from a vacation. Vacations to me have expected times, must see activities and planned expectations in which value the purpose of the trip away from your regular life – it is a temporary release from reality. But for me, this is my every day reality.
Next Stop
So far: Rodeo in Saskatchewan, Calgary Stampede, Glaciers in Jasper, Banff Mountains, Surfing in Tofino, Inukshuks, Nude Beaches.
Today is my last day in Canada and now that I’ve seen more of it, I love it more. While I will be sad to depart the country where I have friends and roots, I am excited to journey into just south of the border. Tomorrow I head into Washington State on Highway 99 – who knows what’s next?
