new beginnings

From a young age, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the ever-giving gift of travel. My family embarked on many trips together, whether that be in our tent-trailer, a road trip across a couple provinces, or a long flight to Europe; we did it. It was normal for my brothers and I to hear that the five of us would be packing our bags and heading out on a new adventure at any given time.

Over the years, as I’ve grown up I have learned to appreciate what a blessing it is to have the opportunity to travel. Sure, I always loved it as a kid, but now, as an adult I find that I have a much deeper connection to the places I go, the things I see and the people I experience. This is all to be expected, but I must say that I will hold my gratitude close to my heart as I continue to explore this amazing planet I inhabit.

Throughout the years, I have been a diligent journal-keeper whenever I find myself on a new trip or adventure. Due to my innate love for writing, I journal all year round, whenever and wherever, it is something I have always done and will continue to do until my dying breath. The act of physically writing something down helps to ground me, settle my thoughts and allow me to express myself at the same time. But I will unpack my passion for expression and articulation at a different time.

As I was saying…I love to journal.

With every trip I have gone on, I have been accompanied by a pen and paper. I keep an account of the things that I see, and the adventures I go on. It’s one of my favourite things about traveling and I love reading back on my entries in order to relive a trip. Since graduating from university I have had the chance to go on two major trips on my own (with a friend). I back-packed around Europe, and I went to Australia and New Zealand for a couple months; and I had the time of my life out there. Throughout my last trip I kept a blog, however I am starting fresh now with this domain.

Ever since returning home to Manitoba after my four months abroad in Australia and New Zealand, I was itching to get going again. Of course, like so many others I had caught the travel bug and it could not be cured. I spent my days at work lost in thoughts of my past adventures as well as the ones to come. I’d sit there planning out my next trip’s itinerary in meticulous detail to pass the time; I wanted to be anywhere but there. I was consumed with dreams of “where to next,” and I longed for an imaginary lottery win that would grant me a ticket around the world.

As you can imagine, constantly wishing I was somewhere I was not is not the best mindset to have. Over the summer months I came to the realization that I needed to allow myself space and time to come to terms with where I was at that moment, and to be okay with it. With the mundane, with the routine, with the steadiness and seemingly boring nature of “real life". I needed to be happy with the season I was in, and embrace it - instead of wishing it were different. I know this probably sounds like a simple point, and I am being overly dramatic by treating it like some sort of epiphany; but personally this was a huge shift for me and I was much happier after I accepted that there was a time for everything and beautiful opportunities wherever I found myself - I just needed to look for them.

Although I felt a lot better about where I was, I still felt like I wanted a new challenge; a change of some sort. I battled with the endless amount of choices I was given (being that this is “the prime of my life” and “I can do whatever my heart desires”). The paralysis of constant decision making is a completely different topic that I will not get into now…. but I was back and forth about whether or not I wanted to change jobs, change cities, or drop everything and travel across the world again. Luckily enough, after many conversations with loved ones, pro & con lists, and prayers, everything lined up and my decision could not have been presented to me more clearly. 

SOoooo here I am. Currently in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. A prairie girl thrown into the mountains with a road bike and a never-ending desire to experience new things. Here I am, after a couple of whirlwind days, in this amazing (and very large) new city that I get to call home for the next little while. Here you will find the musings and observations of the countless new beginnings in my near future.

A