This post has taken me a lot longer to write than usual. In fact I’ve been sitting on this draft since I was in Sri Lanka back in March! It feels like an end of sorts, yet it also feels like a new beginning. I have mixed emotions about my sabbatical drawing to an end which is making it difficult for me to put into words. So bare with me as I attempt to express myself through this process.

After Sri Lanka, we spent a month exploring the South Island of New Zealand before flying back to Montreal at the end of April. I barely had time to get over my New Zealand jet lag and I was once again on a plane, this time heading to India to take care of a family situation. So naturally, I am still processing our amazing trip of a lifetime!

This last year has been such an amazing blessing and I cannot encourage you enough to take the leap and consider it yourself. Leaving my job, my home, my friends was indeed scary but it was also the most exhilarating thing I’ve done. Having the opportunity to travel with David, made the experience all the more enriching. It has taken our relationship goals to the next level. Many confided in us, that this trip would either make us or break us. To be honest, part of me was a little scared of how well we would mesh together.  He’s more laid back and easy going, while I like to be planned and prepared. When we left, we had polar opposite ideas on how to best plan our trip, but as months went by we found a way to work with each other. Finding a middle ground for planning and being emergent. In fact by the time we reached Sri Lanka, I was completely okay not planning any part of our trip, while David had three Excel sheets on how to best plan our way forward. I’ve observed us beautifully adapt each other’s strengths and apply them when our relationship needed it the most.

Other’s thought we wouldn’t return and turn into travel nomads. Ha! For those asking the question – No! I don’t think I want to be a travel nomad nor does David. We both loved our experience as it was rich in learning and experiences however we missed having a home to come to. We missed having a routine! I never thought I’d say that but it’s true. I can see us traveling for months at a time but not as travel nomads. I say this now, but who knows maybe it will change again. When I think about all the beautiful places we visited, people we met, cultures we encountered – I feel rich in memories. Someone wise once said, collect memories not things. The kind of happiness memories can give, no amount of material things will ever match.  This trip has taught me to pause and appreciate the beauty that surrounds me. Now, when I am out and about,  I am content just wandering in my thoughts and looking around at the beauty that surrounds us. I look at people’s faces, their expressions, their smiles.. I don’t feel the urge to bury my face in my device – something our society definitely needs to work on!

For anyone that knows me, I am someone who likes to have things figured out. I enjoy drawing conclusions from my experiences, analyze my life events to learn and grow from them. So naturally, I want to draw conclusions on this trip, discover my learnings and move forward. But what I am realizing is that there are some learnings from this trip, that are far deeper than I can fully comprehend right now. I know this because of the uneasy, incomplete feeling I have inside me. As though something is stirring up but is not ready to reveal itself. I know the answers will start to reveal themselves as I reintegrate myself into this new chapter of life. There is much to look forward to and I don’t know what lies ahead of me, but one thing’s for sure the learning has only just begun.