SUNSHINE SUBURBIA

I've been posting a few of these on Facebook and Instagram (@zoeannalisecreative)but wanted to share the whole series. Went location scouting / general adventure time with Hayley last week.

X

The Learnings of Packing Up and Moving Overseas Alone

1.0       You do take yourself with you

           

We are sometimes seen as the escapists; packing our things and running away to new places to rid our problems instead of facing them. And often, we are the first to strongly defend this. I did, too. I was asked many times if I was leaving because of certain circumstances in my life. No, I didn’t leave to escape my problems, but I guess there’s an element that could be seen that way… and there’s definitely an extremely thin line between ‘running away’ and simply starting afresh. I must tell you though, that in  e v e r y  way, it is absolutely true that you do take every part of yourself with you and this can be one hell of a daunting surprise a couple of months in. You see, you take every little gremlin with you; and you know exactly the ones I’m talking about. In the beginning, they’re subsided by a brilliant rush or nervous energy and adrenaline, but I promise they’ll return- just be aware. The best news though, is that you also take your strengths with you. Even better than that is that many of the strengths that will arise within you, you won’t even know you had. These strengths will shine brighter and be more useful to you than you ever imagined.

I left because I was unhappy where I was, I felt trapped in the city I was in, and I knew I was worth more than to continue with the road I was on.

I didn’t leave for a year of partying and recklessness; quite the opposite really. I found a calmness I haven’t felt in years. I found a self-assurance that I’m not sure has ever existed within myself.

I left with unresolved issues to do with friends and lovers and myself- but I didn’t run from them. They existed and I chose to leave them behind, because sometimes unresolved problems aren’t a reason enough to stay in our past.

Now, as I spend my last few days in a city that I arrived in with no faces to even recognize, I get to go home to a city filled with unresolved issues, humans I love and a perspective of seeing life as much more worth living than I’ve ever known.

Buying a ticket at the age of 20 has possibly shaped all the years to that will follow.

An Edinburgh Christmas!

… Kinda.
I'm the luckiest girl in the World and am leaving tomorrow morning to meet my whole family in Barcelona and spend 3 weeks exploring Spain and spending Christmas there too. It's so strange to think about the fact it's been 9 months since I left Brisbane and 6 months since I've seen my family (excluding my sister, of course). I'm beyond excited to see Spain as well as I'm sure it's as majestic as everyone's told me.

Edinburgh Christmas festival has begun and runs from the last week of November 'til the First week of January, and it is M A G I C . Christmas here is everything I could've imagined - streets filled with decorations, extended trading hours, coffee shop introducing Christmas themed menus, weather that means there's no such thing as going outside without your Winter jacket anymore, SEVERAL Christmas trees around the city and the Christmas Markets - the queen of the Christmas festivities… I'm talking 2 ice skating rinks, double decker merry-go-rounds, pop up drink stalls/food stalls/gift stalls/everything stalls, Christmas tree mazes, Ferris Wheels; everything…. and every single night, too.
As an Australian who spends Christmas in 40 degree heat, usually sweating out a seafood lunch in the pool then napping it away in the afternoon, being in Edinburgh at such a happy time of year is unreal. 

I meant to go out and snap some more photos from around the city but due to a ridiculous bout of illness (just as my holidays start, of course), I ran out of time. So here's what I have so far and after I'm back in the New Year I'll hopefully get some more. 

Happy happy holidays!