What is life?
When I was asked this somewhat challenging question at a recent FWX PORTUGAL RETREAT I quoted to my tribe: “A LIFE LIVED IN FEAR, IS A LIFE HALF LIVED”, a proverb used in Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 Australian classic Strictly Ballroom.
This became my life’s motto two years after the death of my eight-year old sister who had been battling a brain tumour since she was two years old. When she passed, I was 15 and scared, but after two years of darkness, I decided IT WAS TIME TO RE-JOIN LIFE. And I did. I would face many more challenges in the years that followed—getting hit by a car when cycling to work on a sunny morning, surviving my own brain tumour leaving me with two permanent (but invisible) disabilities (epilepsy and Gerstmann Syndrome), and being childless after a long battle with endometriosis.
Still, for me, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. Life is not linear, not square nor any shape. Life is not mathematical, it is fluid and moves like a rollercoaster. Life is topsy turvy, can be quite sh*t at times, boring even, and definitely complicated. It’s exhausting. But for me, it beats the merry-go-round.
I use humour, optimism and at times even my anger to look hardship right in the face. I no longer opt for emotional shortcuts because it will come back and bite you in the butt, big time. Instead, I TELL MY STORIES, the good the bad and the ugly. Trust me, it becomes easier with time.
Everyday—even in the busy streets of the world’s political capital Washington—I take a moment to close my eyes and try to feel life. I STAY CURIOUS, keep learning so my mind doesn’t grow old. I try to make genuine connections with people around me and choose quality over quantity. As I get older, I am disciplining myself more to know when to shut up and listen. I try to travel as much as I can and through authentic experiences expand my horizons and not get stuck in my own (Western) way of thinking.
I AM ALIVE
I AM TROUBLE
I AM A FUTUREMAKER
...moving the needle one (dance) groove at a time.
PHOTO OF 15-YEAR-OLD SELF (ON A PLANE OF COURSE, SUCH IS MY LIFE)
