new life?

So now that I've declared that I'm back: Where do I start? I've been gone for more than a year and it's probably a bit silly to think that I could maybe fit all those months within a blog post or two... Quite impossible. But I'm going to try it anyway... at least a (very) short version of it! :)

After I put my wedding pictures up in September 2007, I basically quit my blog. This wasn't because my general laziness finally caught up with my blog habits - it was simply because life got so busy that I didn't have the time. After the wedding craziness we gave up our flat, moved all our possessions into my parent's attic, packed our backpacks and went off on a year-long honeymoon. And what a great year it was! We started off in the US where I got to meet the wonderful Jeni and lovely Lynne, then spent the winter kayaking in sunny Baja California and finally flew on to South America, where we explored Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and a tiny bit of vast Argentina... What an experience! We hiked and trekked, we went sea kayaking and horse riding, we took a Spanish class, we read tons of books, we drank margaritas and pisco sours and sampled all the interesting (and for the most part delicious) local food, we ended up in the hospital, we met many wonderful people and made new friends and we did so much more that it's impossible to tell you everything at once! But it was very enriching and liberating in so many ways!

It might sound very cliché, but travelling really gives you a new perspective on life. Suddenly you have all this time to think and breathe and just be. I always find that I get to know so much about myself and things just become clearer somehow. It's kind of hard to explain, but whenever I travel for an extended period of time I come back with a clear view of how I want my life to be.

So when we got back in October 2008, we were full of great plans and good intentions. Even though we were sad that our vagabond life had come to an end, we were also looking forward to having a home again (with our own comfortable bed and running hot water, yay!) and of course we were happy to see our families and friends again... It also felt as if we were about to start a new life with a clean slate. However, the novelty of us being back wore off pretty soon. While we were gone, living life at a very different pace, everyone else just continued living the hectic life that is so much part of our culture that most people never stop to think about it. So after a few days everyone expected us to fall back into the daily routine and get on with our lives as if we'd never been away. And it's so easy, you know... Falling back into your old roles and your old habits is like slipping into an old, comfy pair of loafers. They feel familiar for both body and mind and even though they might not be what you want anymore, they just fit effortlessly. Keeping dreams and hopes alive however, is hard work. Sometimes, you could even call it a struggle. And as much as I hate to admit it, I'm slipping already... I feel myself beginning to lose myself in my old ways and I don't want this to happen. I want to keep my dreames and hopes alive and I want to actually live them.

Welcome to my new life! :)