Meet Norah:
She is my 3 year old niece.
Although the more skeptical among you may point out that I’m totally biased, I chose to fully ignore that when I say: she is the most adorable niece in the world!
Period.
A few days ago, I shared a lot about my background and why I joined Steemit in my 'IntroduceYourself' post: I am Really BORING 💤 . So I Hired BADASS 🔥 BIG MIKE to Introduce me!
I am really grateful for all the positive comments that post generated. A very warm welcome.
THANK YOU!
However, there was one thing missing in that post: I did not explain why I chose @LiveNowandWow as my Steemit username.
Enter Norah.
Last year she taught me a lesson about how to better live my life, one that I still take to heart today.
Does that spark your interest just a tiny little bit? If so, you will want to keep reading!
Why?
Because by the end of this post you will not only understand why I picked my username; you will also have learned how you can live your life in a more positive way.
Sound good? Then let's get started!
I have lived in Southeast Asia for the last four years. Although I really enjoy my life there, it has one big downside: I don't see my family much.
But there are a few special moments in the lives of your loved ones that you just don’t want to miss. Last year, my dad retired. And that was one of those moments.
So I jumped on a plane.
Hugging my parents upon my arrival at Schiphol airport
But of course I wasn’t just going to fly in, congratulate my dad, and return to Asia.
Instead, I stayed for a whole month. As I had no apartment to live in anymore, I stayed with my parents.
Luckily my brother, his wife and their young daughter Norah live close by.
You can really tell how long you have been away by seeing how much your young nephews and nieces have grown. I mean, my parents and siblings still look roughly the same.
But Norah was still a baby when I last saw her.
Norah, about 6 months old
Two years later she could walk. And talk! Well, babble is better way of putting it 😉 .
Where before she was just this cute little thing, now she had developed personality.
And she taught me a lesson I will never forget.
A lesson that led me to pick @LiveNowandWow as my Steemit username.
Now that I was back home for the first time in years, I used this opportunity to reconnect with my family.
I decided to focus on the people that matter most to me: my family. I preferred spending a lot of quality time with a few people and (re)connect with them, over hopping all across the country to see a lot of 'long time no see' friends briefly.
It's just a fact that friendships water down when you live abroad, except for the few that are the strongest. At the same time, you develop new ones with the new people you meet. I'm no exception to that rule.
But family matters.
One day of the week, my parents would babysit Norah. That gave me a chance to really get to know her better, and do my best to leave a 'Oh, that's that cool uncle that lives far away' impression that will hopefully not evaporate into thin air before my next return.
One thing we did to cement our relationship was sing a song together.
If only I had known about the Steemit Open Mic back then...
One evening, my brother and sister-in-law had invited me to come over for dinner.
It was mid-September, which meant sunny days and evenings with mild temperatures. We sat outside, my brother has a great backyard. Where he keeps chickens by the way!
It felt like I had never left. We chatted about work, family, football, coffee, raising Norah. You know: all the things that matter in life.
As we were chatting, the chill of the night started to set in. And it was getting darker. So my sister-in-law lit a few candles, and continued her conversation with me. I hardly paid attention to candles.
Until…
All of a sudden I heard a loud WWWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWWW!! right next to me.
As I turned to my left, I noticed Norah was standing next to me.
In her pyamas.
Mesmerized by the light of the candles.
Now these candles were not fancy, big or colorful.
No, these were just simple, cheap waxine candles!
My sister-in-law and I were both dumbstruck for a few seconds, surprised as we were by Norah’s excitement.
And then we started to laugh!
We patted Norah on the back, gave her a hug.
Aand we looked at the candles. We really looked at them. With the same admiration that she had.
And then I saw what she saw: these hypnotizing, burning lights. Flickering, constantly moving, contrasting against the dark sky. Magic.
How AMAZING is that?!
I learned an important lesson that day.
When we are young, we explore the world around us with great excitement. Everything is still new, and surprises await us around every corner.
But as we grow up, we focus more and more on the bigger things. And as a result, we stop noticing the beauty in the smaller things that are around us every day.
As we lose touch with whatever happens NOW, from moment to moment, it is easy to get sucked into worrying about the past or the future:
- “Sally told me that John said I’m fat. Why would he say that?”
- “I don’t like my mother-in-law, I wish I didn’t have to go to her birthday next week…”
- “I work so hard at it: how long will it take before I start making more than a few dollars on my Steemit posts?
Sound familiar?
As adults, we tend to see children as these 'mini-me's' that still have so much to learn. And that need to listen to us, the wise and experienced adults.
However, I'd like to suggest that this can be a two-way street: exactly because little children are still learning everything, they can teach us something too.
They can be a mirror: kids can reintroduce us to the things we may have forgotten along the way, while growing up. These things are still there, gathering dust.
It is never too late to change your attitude towards life!
You can relearn to be amazed by the beauty that is around you every day. You are never to old to experience a sense of wonder.
You just need to get out of your head and open your eyes.
This is what mindfulness is all about.
I personally experienced this effect just days after Norah taught me this invaluable lesson.
My dad had to go back to his office in Rotterdam one last time, to return his set of keys and say his final goodbyes. So we decided to spend the day together in Rotterdam. Ride around on our bikes, just the two of us. I have lived in Rotterdam, but I moved away ten years ago. It wasn't my favorite city at the time, to be honest. But a lot of positive things have happened since then. Exciting new architecture, a new train station. It was really great to be back!
Rotterdam is split in two by a river, the ‘Maas’. There are a few ways to cross this river. We had to cross the ‘Erasmusbrug’ (Erasmus Bridge) to get to my dad’s office.
The Erasmusbrug in Rotterdam
As I was driving on my bike, I looked up to take in the structure of the bridge. And that’s when it hit me: WWWWOOOOOOOOOWWWW!
I literally heard Norah’s voice in the back of my head.
This bridge is so cool!
It's huge, I felt so small looking up. Yet it is also elegant.
Really a well executed, beautiful piece of design.
I felt that sense of wonder, and I smiled from ear to ear...
This all happened almost a year ago. However, my thoughts still drift back to these events every now and then.
To remind myself of this lesson I learned, and really implement in my life, I chose @LiveNowandWow as my Steemit username.
And I started two series based on the same principle:
- TravelNowandWow: follow me as I travel around the world
- YummyNowandWow: let me introduce you to lots of delicious nomnom food!
Here are the posts I have written so far:
TravelNowandWow
- TravelNowandWow #1 - Did You Know You Can ⛷️ Ski on Cyprus?!
- TravelNowandWow #2 – Touching the ️ Clouds ☁️ in the Mountains of Northern Thailand
- TravelNowandWow #3: Wat Chedi Luang, the Amazing Elephant 🐘 Temple Ruin (Temples of Chiang Mai part 1)
YummyNowandWow
- YummyNowandWow #1 - 5 🍚 Dishes 🍲 You HAVE to Try in Vietnam!
- YummyNowandWow #2: DELICIOUS Coconut Ice Cream 🍨. How Did I Ever Live Without It?!
- YummyNowandWow #3: Pad Thai Mustache Style – Hands on THE BEST 👍 Pad Thai 🍚 in Chiang Mai (Thailand)
- YummyNowandWow #4 – Mango Sticky Rice : the MOST Incredible Dessert You Never Tried!
- YummyNowandWow #5: Barefoot, Chiang Mai's Hidden Pasta Gem
And this is my IntroduceYourself post:
Many more post will follow, Steem ON!
I hope this story really inspires you to also reflect on your life:
When Was the Last Time You Really Felt a Sense of Wonder?
Please Share in the Comments!
Credit: all images are my own. Image of the Erasmusbrug is in the public domain.