An unusual time and place

It has been exactly one year since I have posted on this blog. I wonder what brought me back, exactly one year later.

An insight into our world, come trail riding with us today by watching this video:

We are slowly coming out of months of "lockdown" following the coronavirus. I am so tired of this word, but it is here to stay. The number of cases is growing exponentially in the country and everyone seems convinced that it is just a new reality we need to adjust to.

Beyond the world of masks, the world of gloves, the world of social distancing and the world of fear and doubt, we still have nature. I have been particularly grateful for nature over the past few months, never the mind that we're int he midst of the Indian summer (45C++) and we're melting under the sun, the extraordinary beauty of the place has helped keep me grounded.

Each person around the world has been dealing with life in their own way, coping as they can. For me, there is this question that is getting louder and louder in my head. This question has always been there, sometimes as a light echo and sometimes gaining strength and prominence, but it has taken advantage of the recent chaos to take a place on a throne on the front line.

"What is it that I really want to be doing with my life?"

It may surprise you to think that I am still asking myself this question, having left my home a decade ago and having followed not one, but all of my dreams. But this question never goes away, it becomes more and more demanding. You want to live in a foreign, exotic country? You want to live on a farm with animals? You want to be around horses and nature? Sure. But why?

I feel very grateful to have been born in a place and time, in a family and country, that has allowed me to put, on top of my priority list, my happiness. Every decision that I make takes this into account as a core component. But changing country, changing lifestyle, all these things, while absolutely wonderful, are also superficial. Real change happens inside. It's what you do with what you have.

As I continue my never-ending quest for well being and happiness I always come back to the same thing: the small things. By living so far from my family, I have noticed that small things for one person can be so rare and precious for another. And vice versa.

And so, I am coming back to this old blog of mine for the umpteenth time with this in mind. The small things. I want to share with you these small things, just as I want to share them with my future self, that future self that will look back, as it always does, with envy and admiration on the days past.