October 2017

It has been over six years since I left Sevilla to move to Madrid.

Sevilla was the perfect place for me to start my new life in Spain.  Full of tradition and small enough to wander around in amazed for hours easily finding my way home.

What is it about the cities and towns in Europe that draw us to them?

Why am I, and so many other Americans drawn to European cultures and lifestyles? … a question examined in this guest blog post.

 

For me, it was the gorgeous Spanish countryside, architecture, and passionate Latin lifestyle that got my attention on a vacation with a good friend of mine one October.  I thought I would cry as we packed to leave from our 12-day adventure.  I knew I would be back.

The years of running a small business and living the demands of a fast-paced-western-lifestyle had taken a toll on me.

The constant striving and reinventing to stay competitive in my a career had become exhausting.   I had lost sight of what I was striving for.  That thing that gave MEANING to what I was doing.   To make matters worse, I was living an unhealthy lifestyle as my reward for all my hard work.  (Maybe you can relate?)

“I do not believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive.”

Joseph Campbell

It was here in Sevilla, I would return five years later after selling everything to create something new. There is something about walking, smelling, and touching the richness of a European city that makes me feel connected to something bigger than myself.  It’s almost spiritual for me.  I feel energized, and peaceful at the same time.  I see where I am in the moment and in a historical sense… all at the same time.

The longer I live here, the less I think about the MEANING OF MY LIFE or MY LEGACY I will leave.  Something that consumed me before as a method of make a reason why I had to work so hard.

As I immersing myself in the slow-living-lifestyle and traditions of Spain, I am being reintroduced to all of the senses.

I love… the rhythmic yearly customs of this country.   Wondering which of these customs I will absorb as I shape my new life?

I love… being anonymous.

In this culture, no one asks me what I do, what I drive or where I live.  I can be a quiet observer to the customs and the traditions of the people around me being completely open to myself in the moment.  It is interesting how not knowing how things work in another culture has made me a kinder, less judgemental person, more open.

I love… discovering streets, cafes, and markets off the tourist maps.  Exploring hoping to penetrate and understand more about who I am in what I am experiencing in unscripted moments.

I find myself open to new ways of thinking about things.  Reconnecting to all the parts of me that I had forgotten.   And after seventeen years of living alone, I’m happy to say I’ve fallen in love with a wonderful man.

Feeling CONTENT, PEACEFUl AND ALIVE I find, this enough MEANING & LEGACY for me.

When Joseph Campbell says, what we are looking for is the experience of being alive, I find this is true for me.