by Sabreeyah Mason
“The sky looks different when you’re in another state.” - Valencia
You sit on a coach for a painfully long time. Moving from one city to the next, excitement and fatigue rising and falling. Exhausted from all of the experiences you were fortunate enough to have in the city you’re leaving. Happily anxious for what awaits you in the next. You’re in this sort of limbo. Leaving behind friends, keen to make more. There’s only so much planning and expectation you allow yourself. You try to rein it in. You want to leave things to chance. Otherwise, the excitement is for nothing, you’ll end up missing out on the real experiences. You love not knowing what will happen. That’s what life is all about. Small but pleasant and impactful surprises that keep you on your toes. Keeps you guessing. Keeps you wanting more.
Eight hours is a long time to be in this space. You blast music, alternating between sleep and anxiously tapping your foot in anticipation. You try to drown out everything else around you. The child kicking the back of your seat, the couples vying for the pda prize, the person snoring next to you. Because this is a time for reflection. The only real alone time that you ever get. A time for appreciating all of the good you’ve had thus far, analyzing the things you would like to do differently. Reinventing yourself once again.
Because each new place offers the chance to be whoever you want. To be more confident, more outgoing, more charismatic. To rest, to be active. To laugh more, to let yourself cry. To revel in solitude, to surround yourself with new and friendly faces. It’s all up to you. Only you know what you need, what you crave from your next adventure. Because it changes so often. Your wants, needs, and emotions rise and fall like waves.
So you’re sitting on the bus, finally pulling into your destination. You smile to yourself, turn the music up, grab your bags and walk, head up, into the unknown. Starting all over again.
Photo of the Week – Brisbane, Australia