When I was eighteen years old, feeling a little lost and confused in life, like many at that age, I decided to set myself up for little adventures to seek some sort of purpose. Between the partying and the messy lifestyle in a young woman's life I one day decided to book myself a ticket to Africa to begin exploring this beautiful world.
Below I have shared my time in a beautiful place called Arusha, located in Tanzania. A place that taught me some simple yet incredible life lessons on how powerful opening up ours hearts and being kind to one another truly can be.
So with that I welcome you to the beginning of such an incredible life long journey filled with learning, an incredible amount of laughter and what became the building blocks to finding some happiness and inner peace.
I travelled almost half way across the world filled with mixed emotions of excitement and uncertainty. I found myself in a house full of many like minded wonderlust seekers from all across the world, this is what my time in Africa taught me.
Generosity - Give generously without the expectation of always receiving something in return. Giving often is, yet shouldn't be, linked to monetary value. People often underestimate the value of generously giving your time to others. Learn to give a healthy amount of time and energy to others as well as yourself. It can go a long way.
Knowledge is Power - Use the power of your knowledge wisely and in the correct way. Be willing to listen and continuously learn from others and from your own lessons in life. You can always learn something from each person you meet, no matter how big or small. If you find yourself in a negative situation always try to take out as many positive lessons as possible. The day you cease to open your mind up to new lessons and experiences will lead you down a very boring path.
Love Unconditionally - Approach others with love whenever possible. There's no point wasting your energy unnecessarily on negatively towards yourself or others. At time it can be hard to love one another, but at the end of the day teaching with love and compassion and spreading love and happiness will also go a long way.
Simplicity - Many people, including myself, have over complicated things. We need to take a step back and see how simple things truly are. Live life spreading good vibes and positivity. I do realise bad things happen but after my short stay in Arusha where people are viewed to have not much were in fact some of the happiest people I have ever met. People say it's because they know no better. That may be so, but a local explained to me one day that God dealt him a hand in life and it may have not been the greatest but he has his family and he has his community which he loves dearly and that is all he needs in life to be happy.
A journey which began in a place full of so much poverty I never would have expected to find that they were in fact so rich when it came to love and acceptance. It was here I began practising the most simple lessons in life that many struggle to act on daily which can change not only your life but could touch the lives of those who also cross your path.
I began planning my trip originally by seeking that perfect itinerary so I'd have continuous things to do with no time to spare. It was not until one night after losing sleep over the perfect organised trip I realised I was over complicating things prior to even thinking about organising myself a way to the airport. It was at this moment I made a quick bank transfer to secure myself a bed in the most basic setup, a place where I could simply sleep and store my luggage securely. From then onward my trip very quickly transformed from what I knew and lived my life by, which was complete organisation, to what ended up being a trip that showed me how much we as people can get so caught up in over complicating things that we forget to live in the moment.
Although many travel to Africa to teach I honestly feel we could all really do with learning something off each other. I was in fact left having been taught some far more powerful life long lessons myself.
Now that I've shared only the first chapter of my ongoing journey so far, I hope it's encouraged some of you to want to explore life with maybe a different view on things. I hope you all begin laughing a little louder, loving a little broader and living a little simpler.
Until next time I send my love, please take care and Hakuna Matata
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