Thoughts from the hippie

A Beautiful Life

I have a beautiful life, I really do. It’s taken me such a long time to get to this point in my life where I can honestly say that in general, I am happy.

Around two weeks ago I had a phone call from someone who I hadn’t spoken to around two years, long story short, he ended up saying something to me which made me practically snap at him and I gave a huge spiel all about why he is so unhappy in his life is simply because he is lazy, doesn’t challenge himself and is one of those people who are full of words but they have no meaning. An example of that last point for this person is that he would go on and on about travelling but just never do it because he’s too lazy to go get his passport!

After that conversation, I had a think about why do I feel so lucky, happy and think that life is beautiful? Here is what I came up with:

Feeling Lucky:

I have read so many books about women in third world countries and reading about what these women have to face everyday, I am really grateful for the life I have here in Australia. One of the books which really opened my eyes was Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I think everyone: male, female, students and adults should all read this book; it’s incredibly eye-opening, sad and inspiring. It truly makes you value the kind of life that you have.

Feeling Happy:

There was a time where I was depressed for quite some time and I also had purging disorder for around six-six and a half years. Going through depression and an eating disorder you have so much self hatred for that time that it just toxifies your entire life and you feel as though you can’t imagine being happy. For myself how I managed to get through this was there a moment where one of my friends (who is only turning 21 this year) went over to Thailand to get a nose job, breast implants and liposuction. This girl, was/is already very beautiful and was quite slim, nowhere near to being fat at all, and for me it was like a light bulb just went off in my head; I’m not a bad person, I’m not a horrible, mean person, I’m healthy, I exercise, what the hell am I doing destroying my body and mind like this? I finally accepted myself, realised that as long as I was eating healthy and keeping fit I didn’t need to poison myself like I was. It sounds so simple, but when you are stuck in such a mind vortex it’s not as simple as just waking up one day and thinking “ok, I’m better now, I’m giving up my eating disorder forever”. So since then, I have been happy and enjoying life so much more because I’ve accepted who I am and realised I am not a bad person.

Life is Beautiful:

A part from the obvious aesthetics of the world, I think a key point into thinking about just how beautiful life is, is about challenging and pushing yourself and always learning. I play guitar, but nothing impressive and it’s just something for me, I learn Spanish, I go to uni, I run, I love rock-climbing, I love to learn new things about different countries,  I love to go climb mountains and all I want is adventure in my travels! I find the things that are harder to do, harder to learn, the things that push yourself, the things that bring out something creative in you, makes you more happier and inspired by life to think to yourself that yes, life is beautiful! If you spend your days on the couch watching TV or just moping round the house, of course you are not living, you are merely existing and so you probably do think that you do not have a beautiful life because you don’t challenge yourself or put yourself out into the world!

I don’t want to come across as being cocky as if I think that I have a perfect life, because obviously I don’t. However, I think in general that life is beautiful and I don’t need my life to be perfect because nothing in life is perfect. I just think that no matter what there are so many ways to not just simply exist and do nothing but to actually live and be happy, why would you want to do nothing?

Learn to accept yourself, be grateful for what you have and always try for something more.