Thoughts on Fuck-Ups, Forgiveness and Travel as Life.
Read this for thoughts on: Perfectionism, Inner Critics, Forgiveness
Key Insight: Not only are our imperfections okay, it would be strange not to have them. We are first time travellers in life. Imperfections are essential. Human. We need them to add beauty and richness to our voyage.
During my week in Athens this year, I…
Didn’t get the best exchange rates. Lost a scarf.
Chose a shitty restaurant. Overpaid for a sculpture.
Took too long to decide on a concert and the ticket sold out.
Forgot to ask for tax free forms when I went shopping.
Missed a sunset viewing from a well-known spot. So many ‘fuck ups’.
Usually in my daily set up, I’d take a while to forgive myself for each of those moments. If things took a darker turn, I’d question my intelligence as a person.
I can already hear my inner critic, insistently saying “WTF Ray. What are you doing and why are you doing this?”
Hanging around for ages to punish me or really make the lessons stick, ya know?
Inner critics amirite?
But When I'm Travelling...
My self-dialogue becomes compassionate and productive very quickly. My imperfections become part of the tapestry that makes this trip meaningful.
What takes me hours at home takes me minutes and seconds when I’m here.
Within minutes of each of those moments, I told myself.
Ray. You’re in a completely new part of the world. This isn’t the same as being home. Every experience is new. You don’t speak the language. You are a guest.
Of course you are ignorant. Not only is it okay, but it would be bizarre AF if you got this completely right lol.
Do your best, learn from the moment and know that ultimately there are no mistakes.
You are okay. All is okay, even the bits that aren’t okay <3
The imperfections are part of the tapestry that makes this trip.
Keep weaving.
Keep being better.
Keep fucking up differently.
As you take the truth of this moment forward, all the possibilities of the next moments await.
The insight is almost Beckettian lol because it’s similar to what he said.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
As soon as I felt that, my body calmed down. Time slowed down. Funnily enough, the ‘mistakes’ reduced too, though that may change in the future.
I’ll do my part and Life will do hers.
And it’ll be meaningful. It will be flawed. It will be full of life.
What is it about travel that makes me more forgiving, open and in flow?
I really feel it’s the love and respect I have for the Time I have here ⌛
I am so aware that I am here for the blink of an eye.
Every moment matters.
A mistake still leaves so much room for beauty and new experiences – so I just took what it had to teach me and moved.
Onwards. Forwards. Into new moments of Beauty ???
Travel is a microcosm for the journey of life.
We are all travelling through time and space, experiencing life and consciousness in all its glory and grief.
How (different) would life be if we moved on from our mistakes compassionately and productively – because we are so deeply aware and pulled forward by the river of Time.
That awareness that we are all travellers who are here for a short while. A mistake adds beauty to the voyage.
It adds colour and depth to the entire experience.
Not only are our imperfections okay, it would be strange for us not to have them lol.
Life is forever new and it is unpredictable.
We are guests here.
We know a little and we don’t know a lot
There is space to know more, be true, fail better —
In any case, at every turn, Beauty is only a moment away.
