Goodness Gracious Me, It Ain't Bad Being 23.

I am learning so much - about myself, about people, about the power of positivity in the face of a negative situation, about cooking fish, about how much hangovers suck, about how if my computer randomly just decides to delete my 3000 word essay that I only had 300 words to go on on the day that it's due, that I can totally reproduce an even better copy in just 6 hours. 

And so lately I have been hugely, massively blessed. A friend and I were talking, and I mentioned how I had walked up a steep hill to my home in the hot sun, but at the top there was a lavender plant. And I picked a flower. And it smelled wonderful, yet not overpowering. It is soft, with the prettiest colour. 

I want to be pretty, soft, and wonderful yet not overpowering. And as of late I am finding myself in a situation personally where I can be exactly that. I want to be persistent and consistent. I want to be appreciated and appreciative also. And so I'm learning - learning to accept, welcome, celebrate change. I'm learning to just absolutely give in to the honest, pure feeling of joy. With the blessing of an offer to study in the UK this coming September, and hence the promise of returning to Europe to reinvigorate my longing for travel and a different kind of people, I am walking on sunshine (woahh-oh?). 

Yesterday I woke up, drowned a hangover in the orange effervescent goodness that is a berocca and threw on a cossie before walking down to the Ocean Baths. And I couldn't, for the life of me, get rid of this stupid grin on my face. I was just so happy. All the children happily playing on the sand, dodging the waves, walking proudly with their buckets of water that was spilling out yet they did not mind at all, their pride and determination stronger than the weight in their hands. All the dogs with their stupid looks of bewildered ecstasy on their face - tails up, tongues out, feet floating across the burning concrete pavement alongside the sea. 

The other night a friend and I, admittedly a little bit inebriated, threw ourselves into the night and into the ocean. The water was dark, I could not tell the difference between it and the night sky, and the promise of being eventually washed ashore was evidenced by the sluggish glittering of blurred street lights darted along the coastal road. And I was so happy.

Being happy is so, so unbelievably important right now. A good person in my life said of her own situation right now that she might as well be happy when other things could so easily disappoint her. That if there was one element of happiness available to her that she would not say no to it. 

Probably the greatest advice ever.