Learning Life

Prologue:

I lay awake one night, alone with my thoughts and totally caught up in the raw emotion of happy and sad – fascinated, excited and equally daunted by life. I wonder how I came to be in such a unique part of the world and I wonder why. I question my purpose for being here but know too well that scrutinising over it is pointless.

I know that reasons and lessons and such are never truly discovered until a place is left, that no matter how sure I am of why I’m doing whatever it is I’m doing (working to save money – duh), it’s the things that never cross my mind that are carried into the next chapter. And it’s there, through new encounters that they become known, that I realise what the previous place has taught me and how much it has become a part of me. Such a discovery allows a moment of ecstasy, like I know myself for the first time. However, the feeling is quickly cut short by again, a painful quest for purpose in the next foreign place I’ve come to be. And so it goes - the circle of life for a gypsy who knows herself only on the road, on the bits in between.

I calm the racing thoughts in my head by exerting my attention outward. I start to write about my latest love affair, in order for that love to be remembered.


Falling for Alice:

Come night, it’s as if the earth is still and no longer revolving. The temperature drops to an even zero degrees and you can see nothing but black. The only decibel is that of a lonely dogs bark, making itself known to the emptiness, as if he too is intrigued by this blank canvas that is Alice Springs.
Eventually, the sun begins to shed its light on the earth. It paints incredible mountains that frame a landscape of red dirt and brown sand surrounding rocks, trees and shrub. The canvas comes to life with colour, movement and beauty telling the story of Australia - its history, natural state, accomplishments and challenges. The temperature rises and thaws you out. It seeps into your skin and you feel it become a part of you as your blood is warmed and your heart, enlightened.
After the simplicity of the night has silenced your senses, each day awakens them all over again and each day is so profound. An overwhelming sense of appreciation washes over you - for life, the world and more than anything, your country. It's so much greater than you that it takes control and you can’t help but be consumed by it. You stop and smile, no longer concerned by how or why you came to be here, but simply grateful that you are.