Life, International

“To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events; to watch the faces of the poor and the gestures of the proud; to see strange things – machines, armies, multitudes, shadows in the jungle and on the moon; to see man’s work – his paintings, towers and discoveries; to see things thousands of miles away, things hidden behind walls and within rooms, things dangerous to come to; the women that men love and many children; to see and to take pleasure in seeing; to see and be amazed; to see and be instructed;

Thus to see, and to be shown, is now the will and new expectancy of half mankind.”

Life’s Purpose Statement

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Killary Fjard, one of three glacial fjards in Ireland

To see life. It is in the shedding of self and opening your eyes that you can see the world. Life.

I have been deeply reminded of seeing, absorbing, living; now that I am settling into a new life in Ireland. It is all too easy to become stagnant and comfortable, apathetic towards our own lives of discontent. Will change make it better? If we cannot know, why make the effort? Because the alternative is unthinkable. So awake.

Having lived in the UK for on and off for so long in the past, there is less culture shock than might have occurred otherwise. Still, to take the differences and oddities in stride takes a level of practice and patience that is difficult to maintain with grace during an international move. The first few weeks were fraught with swings of temper and sadness and all the in betweens that occur when the simplest of things refuse to cooperate. But it was in finally accepting the newness, the differences, that life here will be as it will be that struggles became laughable.

Embracing the world as it is always makes for an easier life than fighting against the current. That is not to say that we should never struggle against the current or fight for change. The most frustrating of things to be told is to pick your battles, but it is just this. There are things worth fighting for and against, and things that simply sap your energy. I’ve let myself be sapped and drained quite brutally over the last few months. Thankfully… Ireland is pouring the spirit back into me.

I’d like to claim I plan to be more diligent in my writing; sharing stories of Dublin, traveling, philosophy, reviewing places and restaurants and pubs galore. I do intend to be better. Realistically though, I am facing the unknown with the postgraduate studies that have brought me here. Much like opening my eyes, I am opening and awakening parts of my brain that went on a bit of a laze-about during the stress and upheaval of relocating and once again becoming an expat. There will be an up regulation of writing and philosophy and I hope to bring that more to these pages in the near future.

While that happens, feel free to follow some of my adventures on a minor scale on instagram. And thank you for hanging around during my quiet spells. More to come soon!