The Great Misadventure

How crazy; I journal almost every morning, yet here I am struggling to find the words to get me started on this blog. There is so much to say, so much to share - perhaps none of matters to you, but perhaps some of it resonates with you.

There are no words to describe just how off-track our adventures became. For those of you who know Jared and I, it should come as no surprise that the intentions we had in 2021 of course would not come through as planned. Ever since I met Jared, our life has been stuck in a cycle of planning adventures and holidays, only to have those plans not happen. I had naively thought that packing up and going would break this cycle, and yet being on the road created so many opportunities for failure that I never considered.

The internet Universe is so curated, designed to show you a flawless existence. A flooding of people trying to convince you (and probably themselves) that life is perfect. I'm going to cut the ripcord on my own life and confidently tell you --- it is an absolute disaster. I have curated a beautiful disaster, though. I do feel as though we never get a break and seem to be hitting back at relentless curveballs. Practice makes perfect though, right? We have done this time and time and time again, so I'm perfecting the art of failing upwards.

Do you ever wonder where you would be if your life had gone to plan?

This is a dangerous rabbit hole to fall down, and the spiral isn't worth it. I try to live by the theory that you cannot change what has happened and some things are completely outside of your control; if it is gone, don't linger too long on it. I do live my life by the theory that "everything happens for a reason, even if you don't understand it now." This motto doesn't apply to everything in life; some things are just awful and part of life, but almost every situation has a silver lining.

My life fell into the void; it feels like it aged me 20 years, but I also feel 15 years younger.

Let me summarise some of the Great Misadventure.

The trip started off on the wrong foot; we attempted to hit the bitumen 3 times before we actually left, including leaving for our trip to promptly return within days. Note to anyone wanting to pack up your life and leave, definitely do a short trip close to home first to iron out any kinks!

The trip also started off on the other wrong foot because it came about after we had wanted to travel overseas to Italy in and France in 2020 --- yep, just as Corona Virus reared its ugly head, we were planning to go to the epicenter (I am so glad that this was another example of our best laid plans being floated - we delayed booking this travel for whatever reason and it's one of those times I'm incredibly grateful that it panned out that way.)

After lockdowns were starting to lift, we bought to camper trailer and the BT-50 and off we went. NSW treated us pretty averagely! Disaster after disaster, so many things going wrong and so much money drained in such a short amount of time - 2 lots of Beats headphones lost, 2 flat tyres (in literally the same 300m of "road,") a broken Batwing. It got a point here we actually thought about going home; we'd barely made it 6-8 hours away from home, but had travelled so far. Trying to work casually on the road was not easy and ended up costing us more money. We were stressed. The options were to go home and call this a disaster, or get the heck out of NSW. After the final straw had been drawn, we decided to not give up and to go to Victoria.

Victoria is home. We loved it and for the first time everything about the trip started to come easily. We spent a lot of time in Vic and had booked tickets to Tasmania.

As it was, borders started closing again and we became nervous we'd be stuck in a state that wasn't NSW and that we wouldn't be able to cross back over the borders to get home if needed. We didn't want to cancel the trip though.

After one of the best stops we'd had, and after one of the best days of my life, we were called home for another disaster; into the void I went and I've been stuck here for quite some time. It was the literal definition of life falling apart, "when it rains, it pours" and life-changing disasters. So many disasters.

I love a good tragedy, but I won't let my life become one.

Yesterday I realised my life has been curated as failing upwards.

It is a touch self-absorbed to share my life online as if anyone is going to care. The opportunity to put my thoughts "to paper" is a privilege. My words may not change your life, but maybe they will.

Let's go on this misadventure together.

No-one has life figured out. No-one has everything. There are just far too many ways to live life and the more you listen to the people who come across your path, the more you realise that everyone is living some kind of misadventure.

I'm going to share mine with you in the hopes that if you're in the void, you can find your way out.

Usually I would sign off my post with "love and light;" I'm still putting those vibes forward, but right now it's just not how this blog ends. I don't know how these blogs will end.

Perhaps I'll end it with a quote from the song currently filling my ears:

"Weighed down with words too overdramatic

Tonight it's "It can't get much worse"

Vs. "No one should ever feel like"

And these are the lives you love to lead

This is the way they'd love

If they knew how misery loved me."

---Fallout Boy, "Dance Dance"