My obsessions: Past & Present (week 191)

All the photos used in this post are mine

Hello weekend gang!

Hope everybody is resting, relaxing and preparing for a fun weekend ahead!

I've been MIA for a bit, guess it's become somewhat of a habit. However, every time I come back around, I always find myself drawn to posting here. What can I say, I like me a good challenge 🤗

For this week's contest, I chose theme #1: What are you obsessed with and why?
Both past and present obsessions.

Now to start off, I'm someone that obsesses over pretty much everything. It can get very overwhelming. But it also helps me deal with this crazy world we're all a part of.

When I was younger (think 11-12 years old), I didn't have many people in my life I could talk to. My parents were separated - my mom would go out almost every night and come home late, my dad was not as present in my life as I would've liked him to be. My grandparents - well, they liked to give speeches rather than listen to me. I had a couple of friends that I was really close to back then but still couldn't tell them every single thing. I felt extremely lonely and alone. This is what made me start a diary.

I've had a few of these as I was growing up. I didn't think it at the time, but I realize now how much journaling has helped me during some of the most difficult times in my life. These few notebooks contain events, thoughts, emotions, feelings I never felt safe sharing with anybody else. It felt liberating not having to keep everything to myself and being able to throw it out there into the universe. Unfortunately, I stopped writing over the years. I actually think this might be one of the reasons for my mental health decline lately. Being able to write in here though is definitely something that I appreciate, as I'm always looking for ways to "unburden" myself from the weight of the world.

Now, onto the brighter part of my post. Even though I've sort of given up on writing, I have found myself into something just as liberating - travelling!

This is something very new to me as I went on my first actual vacation in August of 2023. However, it was enough to get me fired up for the rest of my life, and have me plan a trip with one of my biggest friends and fellow Hivers 🫶🏻

Growing up in a lower middle class family, in a small country that most people don't know existed, had me thinking some things were really out of my reach. One of them being travelling. I've always wanted to experience the world myself - to discover other cultures, cuisines, people. But I had to numb that desire down for quite a while...Until last year.

Last year, I decided I will do everything I can to try and visit every single place I've ever wanted to. And since I've spent my high school years dreaming of the day I'll visit Paris, there was no doubt in my mind where I needed to head to first. Saying the experience was magical would be an understatement. I never imagined I'd find myself in the exact places I've read about in my French textbooks, or seen in the movies. It was surreal, and at the same time proved to me that anything is possible as long as you really want it. You will always find a way to make it happen.

And the best part about this trip was the fact that I got to experience it with my daughter - tasting French pastries together, practicing our French anytime we could, checking Disneyland out! She's merely 7 years old, yet she has travelled more than I had at her age. Actually, more than I had ever!

After that one week spent in France, I felt like a whole new person. I knew that travelling needed to become part of my life as a way for my soul to survive the burdens of today. But also so that my daughter can broaden her horizons and discover as many places as she can.

The photos we took were amazing but are nothing in comparison to the moments we got to live there. "We'll always have Paris"

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P.S. Thank you all for reading and being part of this amazing place where we get to experience weekends in such a fun, creative way! Wishing all a lovely rest of the best part of the week 😉