You had me at G'day

So this is it, the last week of my incredible year adventure in Australia. I am constantly being asked if I'm sad about leaving. The answer is no, I am so grateful to have had this incredible journey. Don't get me wrong, I am going to miss everything about this magical land down under but this isn't the last adventure I'll be embarking on. Life is what you make it, and mine is just getting started.
Catherine sent me an email with a quote that I can say I've definately lived. "If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you."-Elizabeth Gilbert
I have learned to love myself this year, and that is a truth worth discovering. When you start to look at people as beautiful and perfect, you do the same for yourself. Losing that judgemental impulse takes time and practice but the benefits will continue to amaze you. The more people you meet the broader your spectrum becomes until eventually the differences become normality. Pure simplicity at its finest.
The reality of leaving is seriously kicking in. I feel like I had lost the travel buzz over the past few months. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'm taking it for granted. I know I'm blessed to be here but after you've been in one place long enough that initial awe of seeing things for the first time starts to die down. Knowing that I'm leaving it soon has brought the buzz right back into full swing. My eyes are wide and my soul is soaking in every last drop of paradise. I found a little spot in this massive world that can only be explained when you see it for yourself. Australia, you had me at G'day.