This life we live, love, and lust after is simply stunning, unique, and all-absorbing.

Yet this life seems to pass by at breakneck speeds, heading for a destination we may not understand as if we are simple travellers on a torrid journey to an inevitable end, void of control. Just a passenger, flying through life, catching fleeting glimpses of its true beauty, yet remaining too frightened to eject from the well-traveled path to find our own.

Quietly watching the world go by is the best way to witness and appreciate the human experience.

I love that we are all unique, all have special qualities that we project and fears that we hide. I love the way we talk, listen, learn and laugh.

The biggest problem I have today is that I don’t have a problem!

This simple statement feels rather strange to conceive, stranger still to say out loud, but it is the truth.

I made you cry, I hurt you, and at that moment, I saw myself.

Did I push you too far?

Was seeing my reality too much?

Would you prefer the safety of a happy life?

A happy lie?

Have you ever experienced the uncomfortable feeling that life is passing you by, swapping its love for you in favour of a newer, younger, shinier distraction?

I have, and in many ways still do. It is not fun being discarded like an item that's gone out of trend, passed its used by date or become undesirable.

A storm will create beauty that you may not see until it passes, revealing the world you know, yet somehow the storm left its undeniable mark, which will be felt long into the future.  

You will face these storms seemingly surrounded by the ones who care, but as time passes, so will their care, leaving you alone to weather the aftermath of what only you can feel.

There are many countries on earth where the line between survival and prosperity seems like an impassable gulf, but few seem to be so ever-present as India.

There are moments we have shared, that in many ways, seem too simple to stay locked in my heart and soul forevermore, yet they do!

To the casual passerby, I’m sure you look like another face in the crowd, beaten down from a busy day at work, waiting in line for your favourite nightly snack.

We all share a secret; we all know we share it, we just never speak of it. Like an unspoken rule, a knowing that is ignored, an unfulfilled right, a light we turn our backs to and a gift that seems wasted unless exercised.

The long hot summers of yesteryear spent with carefree friends undertaking careless activities are some of the sweetest memories I can recall.

The memories are as vivid as if all this happened yesterday. The day the school year ended was like an early Christmas, as it marked a moment in time never to be repeated and heralded in the expectation of pure freedom, where life could be sculpted as art for the brave beholder.

Indeed, you never know what lies just around the corner. 

It could be the life you have dreamed of, your worst nightmares, or anything in between.

I wished my corner looked like yours.

I think I am envious, standing here taking in all the details of your colourful character, an excellent example of an internal soul creating external art for all to see. A murmur rumbles deep down within me; I wish I were brave enough to expose my unique self for the world to see.

I have watched you for years, amazed by your power, inspired by your resilience. 

I have seen you fall, make mistakes, hurt yourself, and then, in the same breath, rise, learn.

When you put your happiness in the hands of another, you outsource your future joy to a situation not of your making and not in your control.

Fight the fear of relying on external sources for the highs you desire in life.

As the light slips away, leaving only faint traces of what could be, I stand and search for all the things I can not see. 

In the depths of this void, I still search. Yet my view seems smeared by all that has passed; you have gone, and with it, my hope.

I will always be here for you, 

but just as you have done for me many times before,

I will stand in the background and watch you depart.

Today seemed like a tough day. The walk was long and mostly uphill, the pack was heavy and the rain that seemed so refreshing yesterday would not let up.

A massive storm swept in from the ocean and before I knew it, I was looking for cover. Anything would have done, but little did I know that where I was heading was going to become a timely reminder of just how good life is.

When we were young, family circumstances meant we had to move around a little. At the time, this seemed to suit my personality perfectly. With a stroke of a hand, all that was done was erased, allowing a view of a life to come into focus.

Little did I know that in these moments, I was learning a life lesson that would take years to identify and amend. 

Growing up seems to be a concept that is primarily imposed upon us.

As I do, I am sure you remember the statements from your past that suggested you should grow up. “Isn't it about time you grew up?” For me, the list seemed endless.

Yesterday I had the chance to watch my partner greet her true self for the first time. It was an honour to witness what seemed like the perfect storm, yet this storm was divine.

She took the stage and owned the space like an individual connected to her source. An abundance of information revealed itself as a rich vain of wisdom that I always believed was present, but for the first time appeared for all to witness.