This post really resonates for me, Amy. I just returned from Sicily, a place I’ve been drawn back to for over 20 years, where I feel the same kind of elysium you describe in Hydra. The paradise I experience there comes from the sun, the food and wine, and the people.
At home, in the frenetic “I have to get this done” mindset, it can feel like we are background characters in someone else’s plot. Travel, for me, feels like a chance to step outside of that and be present and sync into a flow state of our own story.
Now that I’m back in Chicago, I know this feeling of elysium will fade (and I even had forgotten what this word meant!)—but I’m hoping to carry it forward in small ways: reminding myself when I leave the house to try to treat even ordinary moments with the same sense of presence, openness, and curiosity.
I've only been to Sicily once but I can imagine it feeling exactly that way! Moving from feeling like the background characters in someone else's plot to syncing into a flow state of our own story is such a beautiful way of describing this. How do we make our everyday life our own story?! Seems like a simple question but I think it's one we're all always trying to answer.
"I consciously shifted my mindset from one of deficiency (we’re spending too much money, it would be cheaper if we were at home, there’s probably work I should be doing) to one of abundance (I can afford this, we can spoil ourselves at dinner if we want to, we can dive in the water and be an hour late to lunch, I’ll be home in time to get all of my work done)"
This post really resonates for me, Amy. I just returned from Sicily, a place I’ve been drawn back to for over 20 years, where I feel the same kind of elysium you describe in Hydra. The paradise I experience there comes from the sun, the food and wine, and the people.
At home, in the frenetic “I have to get this done” mindset, it can feel like we are background characters in someone else’s plot. Travel, for me, feels like a chance to step outside of that and be present and sync into a flow state of our own story.
Now that I’m back in Chicago, I know this feeling of elysium will fade (and I even had forgotten what this word meant!)—but I’m hoping to carry it forward in small ways: reminding myself when I leave the house to try to treat even ordinary moments with the same sense of presence, openness, and curiosity.
I've only been to Sicily once but I can imagine it feeling exactly that way! Moving from feeling like the background characters in someone else's plot to syncing into a flow state of our own story is such a beautiful way of describing this. How do we make our everyday life our own story?! Seems like a simple question but I think it's one we're all always trying to answer.
THISSS
"I consciously shifted my mindset from one of deficiency (we’re spending too much money, it would be cheaper if we were at home, there’s probably work I should be doing) to one of abundance (I can afford this, we can spoil ourselves at dinner if we want to, we can dive in the water and be an hour late to lunch, I’ll be home in time to get all of my work done)"
...is such a game changer in being present.
Yes, it really is! I wish there were a button I could press that would automatically zoom me back to the present, with a mindset of abundance.