I have always wanted to see this movie, but of course, it is one of those serious, non-laugh-out-loud-funny ones that Sam would never watch, so I didn’t get to until yesterday.

I LOVED IT.

Yes, the story is a bit cliche. An accomplished woman suddenly finds herself unhappy in her current life. She has lost passion for everything she used to enjoy. So she decides to take an entire year to fulfill her dream of traveling the world, to find god, as well as to find herself.

As I followed Liz (Julia Robert’s character) through Italy, India, and finally Bali, something hit me — one year of self-searching is exactly what I’m doing too! Granted I’m under a completely different circumstance, and I’m no where close to being unhappy in my current situation (in fact, life is almost exactly how I want it to be at this moment). But one year of flying solo in Europe has given me the chance to look deeper into myself.

I never knew…

  • how much I can live without until I’m living out of one and a half suitcases. 
  • simply seeing a building that has survived thousands of years can bring tears to my eyes.
  • happiness is as simple as taking an afternoon stroll through some random small streets, stopping for a coffee in a  cafe, taking a gelato to go.
  • how satisfying it is to know I’m working towards my passion.
  • it’s really OK to cook without a recipe or measurements because an imagination is all I need.
  • how much it sucks to be so helpless when a loved one is sick but I’m so far away.
  • how easily homesickness can be stirred up when absolutely nothing reminds me of home.
  • …..
The list is infinitely growing because I seem to discover something new every day. It’s like a Finite Element process: the pieces defining the entire structure that is me becomes more refined as the days go by. Together, they point to discrete solutions to problems that used to seem impossible to solve. Every day, I’m less unsure about what I want for my future. Every day, I’m more certain that it is not where I end up that matters, but who I’m with on the way there. 
Five days until reaching the quarter point of this endeavor. 
Introspection still in progress…
Love,
Claire

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