Every path offers something that makes it worth to explore. Therefore, I start today with The Journey.
It will not only be a 4,000km drive travelling through four different Australian states along the East Coast. It will mark as well a personal and a professional transition to me, while travelling along the forests and landscapes that burnt down only a year ago.
The Phoenix
Arising from the ashes is what my name symbolises according to an old wise Japanese man I met on a tiny island in Honduras long ago. Although I had been comparing my own path through life with the legendary phoenix, ironically, I never connected my name directly to it, but phonetically he was right, and I knew it all along. Arising from the ashes is what I’ve been doing time over time; arising from the ashes is what nature has done time over time after severe episodes of bush fires burn them down in Australia.
There is only one rule in order to survive life, and to stay on the Journey. Life can knock you down an infinite number of times, but you always have to come back once more.
As long as you find the courage, the energy, and the motivation to get up again, you should never be afraid to fall. In the arising rises your strength and wisdom. In the healing of yesterday’s pain, arises tomorrow’s growth and strength, renewed motivation and confidence to keep on going, no matter how hard the going gets.
Every path offers something that makes it worth to explore
I don’t have a journey scheduled, but I have confidence that no matter which route I take, it will bring me something to learn, to explore, or simply to enjoy. It is all a matter of perspective, looking at the black clouds, or the purple flower, the opportunities of the Big Unknown, or the angst of the uncertainty.
Arising from the Ashes
Today I left the town I’ve called home for one year and a half, which is an insane long time for my normal travel behaviour. However, the unexpected happened along the road. Not only was there COVID, but as well did my back collapsed, leaving me paralysed, and launching me into months of rehabilitation.
I am grateful for being back on the road, and therefore I will take you along the journey, the one without a specific beginning and ending; a transition might therefore be the better word. And is the world always in a kind of transition, such as we are all?
The Journey through Memories
The Journey starts with the known roads from Woodwark to Mackay. The last time I drove this road, I wasn’t even able to drive. A taxi driver took me there to take a flight to Brisbane, where I would have my back surgery. The time before my friends took me there to take a scan of my back and get a cortisone shot – which would turn out to be insufficient, Brisbane was already calling.
I don’t remember the length of the drive, but I do remember the names of the places along the road. Memories unfold while I pass by until the city contours of Mackay shows up, where I go for a short walk on the beach.
The weather is grey, but I don’t mind. A few rain drops kiss the screen of my car. Crossing the park, walking through the dunes, I see the purple flower in the middle of the track, her happiness and hope contrasting with the dark and daunting clouds in the background.
Here I realise that from now on the road will be unknown, and so will be the route. From here on I will take it day by day, see where the road brings me. Watching the small flower, I know that it doesn’t matter. All what matters is being on the road, the journey as such. Because there will always be something on the road that makes it worth the journey.
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