Back to the Real World
I remember when I traveled because I was lost. When I was certain that what I was searching for was ‘out there’ somewhere even though I had no idea what it was. For a long time I’d turn every corner as if I were turning over every rock that could possibly hide something from me. When I left home I had this romantic notion that I was going to ‘figure it all out.’ I got home and got hit in the face with ‘reality.’
These days I’ve come to terms with reality and we have a much better relationship. Instead of being at its mercy, you can take actions to manipulate it to your advantage. Life becomes soft and pliable when you’re living in the present. Taking a 6 month vacation from life forced me into the moment, but I knew from the beginning it would have to come to an end. Eventually I’d have to go back to the real world.
The good news is that ‘reality’ is actually not real and is quite relative. After eventually realizing that reality is fully built by our own brains as we experience it, I’ve learned that you can kind of tweak it a bit. It’s not quite the matrix, so I can’t fly or have super powers, but I’m not falling for that bullshit that I’m not living in the real world because I’m making the real world. Your entire existence will be spent existing however you choose.
I choose to exist in a fluid state and because of that I tend to move around a lot. I’ve made this my life and there’s no going back anymore. I travel to stay warm, I travel to make money, I travel to see friends, I travel for good beer. I travel when I need something to occupy all of that time I spend living care free outside of the ‘real world.’
I bought a plane ticket home, but I’ll never go home again. Home is inside of me and home is in the life that I’ve built up. I’m going to a beer festival. I’m going to hang out with my friends and family. I’m going forward from here and for forever. The real world is the world you create for yourself. Don’t be forced into thinking it is something there to distract you from your dreams.
All I have to say is I am so glad I came across this post! I found it on Madi’s Misadventures Saturday Six list!
She’s great isn’t she?!
I am really going through such similar things as what you wrote about here. I just got back a few months ago from living in China for a year. And I’m with you 100% – being there ,taking off to “figure it out” really taught me to live in the present.
And at first I had a hard time when I got back. I felt like the reality I came back to wasn’t the one I had hoped for. But lately I’ve been realizing just as you have realized that reality is fluid, and that we shape it. And I’ll continue to travel to stay warm, and see friends, and explore new places as well
Thanks for sharing chuck!
This was really nice to read for me.
- LAUREN
Lauren Rains @ The Mad To Live recently posted..Memories Of Life’s Travels and Why They Are Bitter Sweet
[...] The Real World by Chuck Manley at Nomadic Zen [...]