Upon Further Reflection
Trip Start
Jul 05, 2011
1
19
Trip End
Aug 21, 2011
What I did
Acted Homeless
Casablanca, Morocco
Friday, August 19, 2011
This has been the most challenging trip so far and I have to respect Morocco for that. Begrudgingly. I don't yet know how this has changed me but it has, for better or worse is still to be determined. I may have lost a bit of my Wonder - I may have gained some pessimism. I may have come a little further into the reality of adulthood where not everything sparkles and has kittens, some things are just hard and ugly. My triumph will be my ability to remain myself - sparkly kittens - despite the vicious honesty of growing up. Some more. I am no Peter Pan but Wendy still has a chance.
Still, this type of travel is for me a cleansing. An opportunity to Reset. A removal of all familiarity creates an entirely different headspace and perspective, a keen sort of hyper-awareness that I've never been able to achieve otherwise. A sort of Vision Quest, not in order to become more than I am but a reminder of what that "I Am" is. (Jesus reference unintentional.) It is clarity. The release of self in order to return to Self.
To just BE is a challenge I encountered first in Laos and I've suffered through it far less gracefully this time around. Here is perhaps where age steps in with a watch and wagging finger - tick tock. Spending 45 minutes watching ants feels less like a revelation and more like a waste. If there isn't enough time for me to live all the lives I want to live, there certainly isn't enough time for ants more than once a week (at most)!
Side Note: Ants are really awesome, selfless creatures. Instead of gnawing on the crumb they find in hopes of nourishing themselves, 50+ of them haul it across cracks in the pavement and down across the street to wherever they need to go to share it with the rest of their pack? family? (I'm not down with ant terminology.) They pull together as a team and get shit done. We should be more like ants. Srsly.
It isn't about rushing to the finish line, never appreciating the moment, but it is about living a life that counts. Making each moment matter so that the end of each day leaves you belly-full satisfied. Living in the moment seems to be a theme to all my travels and, generally, my life. Yesterday doesn't matter and tomorrow never comes. Today is it and Now is your moment.... WWJD? (I had to throw that in there for comic relief and I'm killing myself laughing because WWJD coming from *me* is pretty hysterical.) Jesus aside.
What will you do?
