11.11.11

This November 11, 2011, I turned 23. A very auspicious date, and even a full moon. For those of you who know me well, you will know that my birthday is a really symbolic time of year for me. It is this time of year I start to contemplate where I’ve been, what I’ve done and what I’ve achieved. It marks the end of an era but also the beginning of a new one. It is close to Christmas and allows me to realign myself with family values and is also the start of a great transition period before the New Year. I look back a year ago and I was with a man I thought I was going to marry on the other side of the World and not long after I was re-learning to walk after a serious accident.  Three pretty huge things. And a year later, everything is completely different.

My birthday this year coincided with a very huge change in my life; my decision to move home… and stay home for a while. As most of you know, I haven’t ‘lived’ in WA for about a decade as I’ve been off gallivanting around the World since as young as I can remember. My only real friends here are those I’ve known since I was a young child and some other special people I’ve met on visits back. I arrived back in Perth with no networks, no real identity and nothing to lose. I speak differently, I probably act differently and I know I certainly see things differently than most people around me. It’s a weird, but kind of empowering feeling.

Having not shared my 18^th or 21^st with my family and longest-known friends (except for my mother who was pivotal in my 21^st), I felt my birthday as a perfect time for a reunion. My dad organised sunset cocktails and platters of tapas overlooking the ocean with my nearest and dearest. The evening went off without a hitch (except for a bit of wind, but hey – that’s Freo!). I felt blessed to have so many people come and it was a really powerful feeling sharing my birthday with my family and those who have known me longest; a feeling I haven’t experienced in a while. I was really overwhelmed with gratitude. I still am. 

But for some reason this birthday feels even more monumental than it has in the past. Perhaps it is because I’ve come into my own, I am home, and I am the beginning of the next phase in my life. For the first time I don’t feel too old or too young. I feel free to do whatever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I want. I am young enough to enjoy life to the fullest without real responsibility, but I am old enough to do all those things I’ve wanted to do but not felt ready for in the past. I am not worried what other people think of me; I have integrity and I know that. I am not going to hold back if I feel like doing something; who knows how long we have to live. I am simply going with the flow and taking the opportunities that life presents me with, because why not?

The two questions I am asked the most now I’m back are, what are you going to do for work? And, what about love? I am at a crossroads in my career but it’s time to make some money. I am really enjoying not working at the moment and having time to be social and connected to nature, but I am also balancing my time with applying for jobs and working on projects. Unfortunately the job market here in WA is not super compatible with my experience and the selection process takes 6-8 weeks in most cases. But I know everything will work out, and there is no rush. Everything happens at the right time for the right reasons. And that is pretty much the answer to the second question as well. Yes, I am definitely a love person; whether it’s romantic love, or love for my friends or even just love for the present moment. You all know that & I guess that’s why people ask me about it. But I’m enjoying the freedom of not being involved right now. After living in Brazil and the US with men who are generally far different and more open in their approach to dating I get a little bit confused by Australian men.  Maybe I should buy a book so I can read the signs a little better! It also feels like a lot of Australian women are not treated like the goddesses they are, and that concerns me a little. Women are powerful and here to be treasured, so come on Aussie ladies! Command that. It’s all very confusing for me, like I said. So I am just enjoying the moment and as long as I’m not hurting anyone I can’t go wrong there. Another perk of being twenty-three.

So, that was my 11.11.11. A turning point, the beginning of my Australian life, my embracement of being in my 20s, a reunion and reestablishment, and living it up and finding this beautiful inner freedom. You never know where the opportunities that came along are going to take you, and I’m feeling really great about that.