This past year has been rough, there is no denying it whatsoever! I had finally hit rock bottom in October last year from all the hurt and grief from life that I had bottled up for probably the last 15 years or so. Not only did I feel my personal life was spiraling downward, my sixth year of teaching was probably one of the worst I had ever experienced.
With time, patience, prayer, and a lot of TLC for myself, I finally felt like I was coming out of a funk, another dimension that was bringing me lower and lower into an abyss I can't even explain; a hole where sometimes I wanted stay huddled in the corner of it and be forgotten. At other times I wanted to fight my way out, and yet when I kept climbing, the top seemed further and further away and unreachable for me.
With the past year behind me and finally ready to live my last year of my twenties, I decided that instead of working and taking gobs of classes, I needed to take care of myself; I needed to find myself away from my own reality in places that people only imagine and dream about.
So with a few months of savings and a little planning, I planned two vacations; one with my mother and aunt to the NW Pacific and Alaska for two weeks, and the other to Ecuador, where I would see one of my dear and closest friends finally after seven years. Add into the mix a week of class for my master's degree and diploma that no one could ever take away from me.
It was, what I called, the "Eat, Pray, and Love" summer. In a sense, I felt like the character in the book, going off to new and daring places on my own, not knowing what I was getting myself into, and learning more about myself through the people I encountered on my journey.
And what did I gain from this summer, you ask? So many unforgettable experiences and pictures, but on a more serious note, I found myself again, and I learned to love myself again. It only took a trip halfway around the world to realize that I am still a part of this human race, that there is more suffering going on elsewhere far worse than I will ever probably experience, and that people still do care, even the complete stranger who is willing to escort you all the way to your hostel across a dangerous city and ask for nothing in return but a picture and a smile. Our culture (and partially our human nature) makes us forget that we are made to be a part of this world to pay it forward and be there for each other. It was an honor to meet the people I encountered, share a conversation (even if it was limited English) of fellowship and shared interests, assimilate and be a part of a culture I could not even imagine living in for the rest of my life, share in a meal (made out of love and respect), and most of all to be humbled by the people and the resiliency they have each and every day.
As I move forward with my new school year (what I have dubbed as the seventh year stretch), I will take those experiences and learn from them; and when I need to be humbled again, all I need to do is reflect back on my journey this past summer and remember.
