Hawaii

I recently returned from Hawaii, and here the the video I produced from it. I did not really get a chance to take a lot of videos since it was mostly family gatherings and such. Although that in itself would have been quite the video, eating the best food on this planet, drinking and family shenanigans, this is the result. I will blog more about my experience returning home soon, mean while, enjoy this short video.

The Bucket List

I adore all my ambitions and personal goals and I believe everyone should set and try to achieve them, but I don’t believe life is about this ludicrous idea of ‘manifesting your dreams at some weekend workshop in Orlando’ or crossing out ‘skydiving’ and ‘taking Spanish classes’ off of some carefully written Bucket List. Who is keeping track if you cross ‘travel to Bali’ off your list? The few people on social media that actually care about your travels? Furthermore, I don’t know anyone’s life that adheres to an organized, day to day ‘to do list’— life is meant to be messy, capricious. My favorite experiences are the ones that can't be planned.

My philosophy is to make all of my life a living poem. This can't be accomplished purely by completing things on a list. I believe life is about finding ways to make life’s everyday activities beautiful, fun, inspiring to not only yourself, but others as well. We all must go to the DMV, to the doctors and the grocery store. If I can’t find a way to turn my ordinary life’s list into the extraordinary then I am simply existing, checking things off my list. Why would a ‘Bucket List’ be any different? All lists are meaningless if I am merely trying to finish the list. And on a somber note, when you complete your Bucket List —well, the game is over.

Tear up your bucket list and simply just go an do it. As with any list, it is human nature to put things off and procrastinate. Don't let your bucket list dictate your day to day, year to year explorations. Stop making excuses and live life.

Six years later

When was the last time you went home? When was the last time you saw the house you were raised in? When was the last time you step foot in that house and had your dog come rushing to your feet to greet you? When was the last time you woke up from a nap to the room filling aroma of your mothers cooking where nothing else mattered in the world other than watching the sun set behind the mountains?

I have called several places home in the past ten years, Indiana, Florida, and soon to be Colorado, yet I have not returned home since the summer of 2008. This weekend I will be returning for the first time in six years. I am not as excited as I should be. I want to go home, I need to go home. It's time, but it is not all that simple as it seems. I have been avoiding going back home for quite some time now, for many reasons. Leaving Hawaii was one of the hardest things I have ever done but at the same time it let me discover who I really am. Its going to be different seeing the me that I left a while ago.

I have always been interested in visiting other places, experiencing something you could not in Hawaii, and doing things for myself so often that I have forgotten what it is like to be with family or the friends I grew up with. I have grown so disconnected from my upbringings. It makes me uncomfortable to think about it, let alone blog about it. It is time to face reality and start giving back to others than myself. I have a lot of mixed emotions about going home but we all must not forget where we come from. Going home will be hard, but it will be worth it.