Meet. Learn. Love

They say most writers are also readers..me..not too much.. I enjoy writing, I find it therapeutic. I'm a fan of communication and the written kind is my favourite but I really don't read as much as I should/could/wish. My family of avid readers always mock my visits to the library which are usually an annual or bi annual event..but I can see how books can become your best friends.

I was at the lowest of the low times at the end of 2008, life as I had known and wanted had changed. I had failed at love and lost someone dear.I had sunk into that rather deep and unpleasant abyss of misery from which the way out seemed hard. That's when Liz Gilbert came along. A few of my girlfriends recommended I read the book "Eat, Pray, love". It was a book of hope, of self-discovery, a book of finding your way forward and it did just that! Never before have I been able to relate myself so much to a literary character! Through her book, Liz Gilbert made me laugh, cry and totally get how she felt . She is the epitome of my kinda writing..She doesn't use big words but still manages to convey some highly spiritual thoughts and deep philosophy through use of simple metaphors. Her book is about her journey, after a rather rough divorce and endless screwed up relationships to Italy, India and Indonesia where she eats, prays and loves (respectively). In each of the countries, she learns and tries something new. In each of those countries, she is able to break away from the past and find a new part of herself for a new tomorrow. I loved her character, I loved the book, I loved Richard from Texas and I would highly recommend it to anyone in a down-in-the-dumps kinda situation.

So in a way her book became my best friend, philosopher and guide to help me out of my abyss and somewhat inspired me to take on this journey and write this blog.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted this blog to be about..what I wanted to get out of my journey and I came up with three things.

I want this journey to be about
1)Meeting new people
2)Learning new things and
3) Finding a way back into love.

MEET. LEARN.LOVE

Meet: I am a people’s person. I love people and humanity and think people are my biggest inspiration. I think that humans are a fascinating species, we are all so different yet so alike. I want to meet a wide range of people from different cultures, different upbringings, different socio-economic backgrounds..people who I can have fun with, people who challenge my worldview..people who teach me something new. So every time I meet a person who makes me have a “Aha moment”/ “haha” moment, they shall be on the blog!

Learn: I am constantly seeking opportunities to learn, to grow, to understand and to absorb all the information the Universe has to offer me. With curiosity by my side, I’m on an adventure to learn new things..from learning to cook and clean to learning a new language or learning a new tradition or a new skill. Anything cool and fun I learn will be shared on the blog.

Love: In the last couple of years, I have gone from being a hopeless romantic to an absolute love-hating, men-hating cynic. I’m like the Scrooge of Valentines and the thought/sight of something minutely lovey dovey makes me wanna barf...Classical conditioning really does ruin things sometimes eh? I have built way too many walls and defence mechanisms to that word/feeling and become an ice princess and I’ve realised that isn’t healthy..that isn’t me. I think the best way to face your fears is to embrace them and that’s what I need to do with love..not shy away from it, not build walls but to fall in it and learn to swim. That is not to say that I’m on the prowl here :P but that I am willing to firstly learn what “love” means and then slowly open myself to that feeling and let love seep into the fortress of cynicism I have built. So if I do learn a thing or two about love, that would be here too on the blog.

So with that in mind, I am ready to embark on a new journey..to meet, to learn, to love and to document all whom I meet, all that I learn and all those/that/what I love through this blog. May the gods of consistency and NTMI be by my side ;)