Breaking the Comfort Zone
Writing this at 2:12AM, as I normally do on the eve of a departure – last minute cramming, my specialty :D. Anyway, I’m sitting on the last remaining piece of furniture, a bed, in what used to be a fully furnished apartment. My mom is moving back to Arizona after spending approximately 10 months (June 2008-April 2009) attempting to situate her life in Mulhouse, France. Unfortunately, she came to the realization that the people whom she had grown to know in her childhood were either not the same, did not act reciprocally to her as she attempted to act towards them, and generally did not possess the same outlook on life as she had come to have through her diverse experiences traveling the world while raising a family.
This story really allows me to realize just how important a network of friends are in a particular location, in all actuality it is veritably the people whom we know that create the experience, rather than the area itself. The friends I had made influenced me enormously in my various travels and residences, including: Arizona / Grenoble, France / Seoul, South Korea / Toulouse, France / Jeddah, Saudi Arabia / the rest of the traveling adventures undertaken. That is what I had undergone in Toulouse, the people that I had met had the largest impact on me and had essentially fabricated the experience. Once I was still in Toulouse and those people had left, there was almost no more reason for me to be there. The area that I had grown to become accustomed to through all the interactions with other people had lost its significance to me since I had become a stranger in my own environment. It really is an étrange feeling that is unpleasant and somewhat depressing.
Anyway, now I find myself on the frontier of my future, with many decisions awaiting me that could for all intents and purposes completely change the outcome of my life. When thinking about it, it really is unbelievable how such small decisions can completely adjust the course of our lives. In the next few weeks, I may really be anywhere in the world, and that respective context’s experience is definitely going to be life changing.
The current economic situation is not so favorable so many disappointing responses have stricken me, including the cancellation of an interview 3 minutes before the scheduled time (after 2 weeks of waiting). However, one must stay positive and keep fighting for the best opportunity and try to fulfill his goals and objectives that the person is fixed upon. Only then can we reach our full potential.
Life is never in hindsight, and on that remark, I will see what the passage of time affords me as an opportunity.
For the time being, I’ll keep on crashing at my supporting network of friends’ places – Lyon + Toulouse (en France) here I come!
