"To Live By The Open Sea"
Liz Gilbert: “I've come to believe that there exists in the universe something I call "The Physics of The Quest" — a force of nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity or momentum. And the rule of Quest Physics maybe goes like this: "If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting (which can be anything from your house to your bitter old resentments) and set out on a truth-seeking journey (either externally or internally), and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared – most of all – to face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourself... then truth will not be withheld from you." or so I've come to believe.”
~ Eat Pray Love
Truth = Peace.
I left my home for an adventure. I left predictability, friendship, and familiarity. I left behind the adorable 1200sq foot home with a front porch for cocktails and slow Sunday talk and moved 10,817km to an adorable ground floor apartment 1/10th of the size (68sq meters, tiny house), overlooking trash bins and crumbled walls, no patio, 18 inch kitchen space, and a nightly stray cat screaming performance, banging their paws on my bedroom windows.
Address: 001.
The first place that was truly mine.
I moved my entirety into 001 on this brave adventure, brave enough to take steps to find peace, face my reality, parts of myself I didn't love, grow into parts I do love, and explore the world. Not a huge Liz Gilbert fan, but I understand "Physics of the Quest" - I understand 001.
It's not all been pretty, especially in quarantine half-lockdown, teaching remotely, hardly seeing anyone except when I take the trash out once a week, but it's been brave fun.
Drippy Ceilings and Falling Plaster Pieces when the building expands in the heat
Two years adventuring. I've consumed knowledge, food, and thoughts. I prayed in churches around the world and lit candles for peace, love, and contentment. I fell in love with places, food, people, and myself.
That time The Company trusted me to help with the Winter Party. so I took down my Christmas Decorations and wore them with my dress.
Liz Gilbert is right - but so were my Grandmothers when they said this same sentence:
You grow when you eat, pray, and love.
I've grown to fill my curious little apartment. It is time to grow a bit more.
