"It is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and unrenewed: it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope. But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical will live the relation to another as something alive."
— Rainer Maria Rilke (Letters to a Young Poet)
What does this mean to you?
"Letters to a Young Poet" is a Book that was close at hand while I was train hopping across Europe. Not able to speak any of the languages and forced to navigate myself from place to place, it was comforting to have something that would always provide a little bit of enlightenment on never giving up on my journey of discovery.
This quote will always be one of the best motivational quotes in my life. For me, it means that I must step out of my day to day life and live with no exceptions. To put fear in my back pocket and say "Yes, I will give it my all and I will strive for happiness"
So what does it pertain to? My trip? New discoveries? Different experiences?
Ultimately it is about feeling, feeling some sort of fulfillment when it comes to happiness in the broadest sense of the word. So at the time of backpacking it was about looking beyond the tourist line towards things not so common. It was about living that time, the relationship I was having with exploration, to new heights.
In a relationship, well it is about not being afraid of something new that undoubtedly brings change. To give yourself over, not to another but to the idea of love, to the idea of loving a person completely and without hesitation, to love someone unconditionally, that is when we truly start to feel the all encompassing emotion of happiness that love always delivers.
To be alive and to feel alive are two completely different things.
So, don't be afraid of something new... it more often than not turns out to be exciting! and that excitement makes you feel more than any adrenalin rush in the world. And is that not the whole point to living... to feel like we are living, to feel we are alive.
2 comments:
Beautifully written! Change is always scary as for me it is a call to trust yourself that you will ok and make it through it a better person. Trusting yourself is probably the scariest thing as it means owning the result whether good or bad. That has probably been the big lessons of late that I have taken away from relationships. That somehow it's a reflection of me and tells a story about me that I either want to listen to or ignore. But very inspirational post. Thanks for sharing!
Thabks, at it is my utmost pleasure to share something like this with you.
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