Four months down the track...

It has been 4 months since I was last in Newcastle and I feel as though the whole place is a different world of which I can't truly return to. Though seeing close friends was a great feeling, I just knew that I was visiting a place that didn't feel right anymore. I was out of sync, not concerned with the things that held me there before and could not relate to the gossip and banter of my former life. And I realised how, in the last four months, I have shifted and altered myself and view on things in a way that places me in another mindset altogether. I realised that where I am now, as a single human, a young woman fresh from the excitement of travel, culture and experience, is a much more positively consuming place to the drudgery of routine and nervous speculation that I was facing last year.

You see, the world is gorgeous and breathtaking and wondrous and once you step foot into it, I mean TRULY set foot, turning back to see what else is going on behind you can be a risky move which takes your eyes off the prize. You lose focus because you begin to dwell on what could have been or what was. This weekend I came to be at one with the fact that I have wonderful friends down in my favourite Australian city but I needn't be around them to enjoy their friendships. I can walk this earth knowing that they are there, only a phone call, text message or 3 second "fugly selfie" SnapChat away (add me "rutheeho"). What that little visit down south this weekend has given me is the reassurance that I have come a long way, and that I am doing exactly what I said I would to myself and I couldn't be any happier. And to those that are facing that nervous speculation about the future or the all-consuming unhappiness or confusion of directionless routine - I suggest you grab yourself a passport and a ticket to some place else and just take a moment away from everything to taste a bit of something else. You will feel rejuvenated, inspired and unstoppable - and  the smile on your face will show it.