This blog is all about our own personal experience – diary entry we wrote from the heart. It’s honest, real, and true to our experience, but it might also help you out there, especially if you’re someone who always returns home from travelling and doesn’t really feel like, “This is my life.”
Keep reading, because this one might inspire you to think differently about what “home,” “reality,” and your own life really mean.
Roos: Going Home… August 25, 2024
Whenever people from home (meaning people from the Netherlands) talked about “going back to reality,” I felt a sense of resistance.
Why is life in the Netherlands considered reality?
Is it really?
Or do people think it is reality simply because they
have never lived abroad for an extended period of time?
“Back to reality” is actually a phrase based on people who, „after working or studying hard“ , finally get the chance to enjoy a holiday.
When the holiday is over, people are quick to say, “We have to go back to reality.”
For many people, there can be a positive idea behind that. Getting back into a familiar routine, sleeping in your own bed again, and spending time with your friends.
Personally, it doesn’t feel that way to me.
To me, it feels like going back to a place where everyone follows their fixed routines and perhaps even dreams about going abroad one day, but where people tend to think within certain boxes.
But What really is the reality of life?
The definition of reality is: “Everything that is factually true at this moment.”
People also tend to see it as making responsible choices.
But do you always have to live in reality and not dare to dream?
How beautiful is it when you can dream about the life you would like to live and do everything you can to turn that dream into reality?
Of course, everyone’s dreams are different.
Some people know from a young age that they want a house, a family, and a stable life. Others want to work full-time for an employer, finish a degree, or explore the world.
but My personal dream is to live in Bali for a longer period of time and work online doing something that gives me energy and a sense of fulfilment.
Should I really not pursue this just because people from the Netherlands tell me that it isn’t “reality”?
No, of course not.
When I want to achieve something,
I can do it, and I will work for it.
To achieve my dreams, I have to step outside of my comfort zone. Something I have done a lot over the past year. I made the decision to quit my studies, travelled alone for three and a half months, decided not to study the following year either, started working somewhere else, and even travelled back to Bali alone for another month.
I have never stepped so far outside of my comfort zone in a single year, and it has brought me so much and for the first time, I truly started listening to my own feelings instead of those of other people.
In the past, for example, my parents’ opinions were very important to me, and I often based my own decisions on what they thought was best. Now, I still take my parents’ opinions into consideration, but I make my own choices regardless.
One thing I have learned, and something I can carry with me for the rest of my life, is that I can trust the choices I make for myself.
have never been someone who easily regrets the choices I made in the past. After all, you learn from your mistakes and can take those lessons with you into the future.
Nina:
After reading this blog, I felt like, “Wow, yes, she speaks straight from my soul.”
This is exactly how I feel, because my reality is so different from anyone else’s around me at home.
But since I know, see, and understand that there is not just one way to live, I’ve learned to accept that my reality is truly beautiful too, just in a different way. And it fulfills me more than anything.
Because why should we keep forcing ourselves to stay somewhere we literally feel trapped or not welcomed?
This is not life or living — it’s surviving.
➜ If this resonated with you and you enjoyed my blog, feel free to check out my blog about “how to save money without cutting the fun“
it might be helpful for you.
yours Nina / IG: freespirit.nina
