summery

So here I sit in my office, on my second last day of work, having the walls taken down around me as they install the airconditioning (how convenient, right as I leave). Pretty apt for how my life is about to progress, as I leave my comfort zone to keep on discovering diverse corners of the world and then starting my career. Off I leave on Tuesday on the next leg of exotic destinations, starting with Australia for ten days, then India for two months and finally Jordan for three weeks.

 

This summer back in my 'hometown' of Monaco (I was born here afterall, and also lived here for ten years, and spent every summer here until I was 18), I have learnt a whole box-full of lessons. I have figured out that this life is The Good Life: that people around the world come to visit and say how this could be the most beautiful place on earth, that this is a life free of worries due to financial comfort, that this is a place of relaxation and ease. And I agree with these things. My job is simple and well-enough paid. My coffees are delicious and plentiful. There are no moments of panic where I don't know what to do, or how to do something. Unlike last summer, I don't find it hard to please my bosses. I come home to a basket of clean laundry done by Mama, and a three-course dinner waiting for me hot on the table, suitable to all my dietary requirements and preferences.

 

But I also figured out that as lovely and peaceful and calm and stress-free and low-key and fine-for-now as this life is, this is exactly what I do not want. That my idea of the good life is not necessarily The Good Life.

 

I don't want the security of waking up and knowing my day will go a certain way, in a certain order, even if I know that that guarantees nothing ruining it. I don't want to know how everything works and never feel challenged. I don't want things to be obvious and never feel the pride of putting the puzzle pieces together. I don't want cheap compliments. I don't want to have the good life without having properly earned it. I don't want to have enough free time to have five coffee breaks a day. I don't want to know everyone where I live, and have everyone know how I live. I don't want the easy life because it is too easy.

 

But in knowing what I do not want, I come closer to knowing what it is that I do. I want spontaneity, whatever the consequences. I want every day to feel that I have climbed a mountain of challenges and the pride of success. I want to do my own dirty laundry and learn to cook better until one day it will be edible. I want to deserve, work for what I have. I want to feel busy, occupied, meaningful and satisfied. I want privacy to do less-than-perfect deeds without everyone having to know. I want to have room to want.

 

This is why I am so excited for my upcoming job; not only will I have gotten this job completely on my own and feel that I have really earned it, but there will still be so many mountains to climb, having to learn handfuls of new languages and moving last-minute to HSBC's destination of choice.

 

This is why I am excited to keep travelling; the more effort you make to see a country, the more you learn about it, the more you see, the more you feel. I want to learn ins and outs, and ways around and wrap my head around things that seem unwrappable. I want to relate, even if not living the same experience. I want to live an experience.

 

I know how hard we all worked through our years together and am so excited to see what life has got to offer us. Looking at where you all are and what you are all doing, I don't think we have much to complain about, and very much to be proud of. Good on us!

 

I hope to hear of your 'nouvelles' soon, and in the meantime, I send you all my deepest felt hugs.

 

Bisou,

 

Pooch

Multi-Faceted Canine Rescue Service

League of Eclectic People

Goodtown, Goodlife

Everywhere