To New Beginnings

After a very lovely 14 hour flight on Cathay Pacific from SFO to HKG, I'm finally back in Asia!! Once my 4 hour layover is complete, I'll be on my way to Bali!

The significance of this Date

Memory of a FB Photo of welcome home balloons from my family when I came home from my last big trip with my ex.

While it's Nov 21st in the US (thus that's the date of this blog post) it's actually Nov 22nd here in HKG. Once I landed in HKG I realized the significance of the time that I chose to start my new journey (thanks to a facebook memory). On this day 3 years ago I was just getting back from 10 months of travel with my ex (then fiancé). If I'm honest with myself, I took that trip for him, because it's what he wanted to do, and not for me. While I'm eternally grateful for many of the experiences we had on that trip, and for the lessons I ultimately learned about myself/ my partner/ and the world, it was not a trip I wanted to take and it was among the most difficult 10 months of my life. And since I'm being honest, at the time I wouldn't have known what I wanted or how to get out of what I didn't want, because I didn't know who I was, and I was in denial that anything was wrong.

On that trip most of the decisions about where we went, what we did, how we spent our money, etc... were made by my ex. I don't "blame" him for controlling the trip and the relationship, I ultimately allowed it, and I try really hard not to beat myself up over allowing myself to go down that path with him.  How and why I allowed it to happen are themes I intend to continue to explore through self reflection on this trip.

That said, that time in my life is behind me and it's amazing how I feel like an entirely different person as I enter into my own big adventure! On this journey, my journey, I'm committed to listening to myself and doing what I want to do / what's right for me.   Here's to new beginnings and learning from past experiences!