"Next time you have the opportunity, go on a rollercoaster"

Wauw. Just when I was thinking that maybe I should start writing without the fortune cookie messages, this one pops up. "Next time you have the opportunity, go on a rollercoaster."

Ever since I got back from Amsterdam I've been reflecting on whether or not I should go and make this worldtrip. It's something I really want to do, but have been a bit "hmmm" about, because I have no plan what so ever, no one to join me, it scares the heck out of me to be honest, and if I wanna be able to buy a few plane tickets to God knows where, I'll have to start working for a while and drop out of college.

Almost everyone who I tell my plan to -without a plan, really-, looks at me as if I were this crazy chick who has no idea what she's doing and isn't making a smart choice by not studying her ass off for the next 3 years, because "you can always take the trip after you get your degree."
Well, you know what? I'm not the kind that shares my thoughts and spreads out messages and gives advice, not to follow it myself. And yes, I am this crazy chick that has no idea what she's doing. But who does?

So here it goes: I am making this trip. I am leaving everything and everyone I know behind and I am pursuing what I truly want to do. Where it will take me, I don't know. What's going to happen to me, I have no clue. All I know is there's this voice in my head that's been talking to me for over a year now, and I don't want to ignore it any longer. This is what I need to do. I am boarding on this gigantic rollercoaster and am going to live and enjoy every single second of it. Like I said before, you only have one life and it's the one you're living right now.

Greeting you with a mind that's going a thousand miles an hour

J.

PS: Try getting away from the concrete jungle from time to time. Nature will treat you kindly.
PS II: Don't rely on technology and electronic items too much, they have no mind of their own and will leave you when you think you need them the most. So don't get attached and try going back to the basics.

"Open up your heart - it can always be closed again"

It's been a little while since I haven't written anything, mainly because I was on a citytrip to Amsterdam, but I've been back for two days now and decided it was best for me to reflect on everything and let it all sink in, rather than just blabla'ing about it without thinking it through. Because believe me, there was a lot of material to think about.

To start off me and my friend Sara didn't have any plans what so ever. We just bought a busticket with a return dated 4 days later and the only thing we knew was that we were going to the Jason Mraz concert in Westerpark the first night.
Like I mentioned in the blog below he's an amazing person and artist, and that feeling has been confirmed even more now that I've seen him live. If there's one thing you need to do if you ever get the opportunity is go to a Jason Mraz concert.

It will change your life, I'm not kidding.

So, I went to Amsterdam with the intention of finding Jason - which I did, too bad I had no clue how to get to him and see him face to face. On the other hand what would I have said anyway besides "uuuuuh"? - and what I found was something way bigger than anything I could ever imagine.

It started with two guys asking us for directions at a crossroad and ended up shifting my whole perspective on who we are and what it is we're doing here. My main inspiration was one of the crossroadguys who - strangely enough - practically has the same name as the person I look up to, being the magnificent Jason Mraz.
Same vowels, same consonants, other order.

What I found on this trip was love. Not in a cheesy, highschoolmovie-way, but the learnings of genuine love. Not only for a person, but for everything around you. I learned that what we really need to do is open up our hearts, and just let the love in. It's so easy.
Situations of not being yourself, being scared or worried, is just because you don't open up to that - yet - unknown love. And to my opinion it can never be closed again, you leave bits and pieces of your heart spreaded all over.


I'm not going to get into all the details - I could probably write pages about what I've experienced - but I'll tell you this: because of opening up for just one second, and agreeing to go and have a drink at some bar in a strange city with two complete strangers, I slept on docks, partied on a boat and met the most amazing people. Most of them have almost travelled across the entire globe, and are living my dream, which is to travel and see the world, getting to know people all over the planet, spreading peace and love, doing what it is you want to do and attend the university of life. Because that's all that matters really.

And what I've fully and consciously realized is that you really only have one life on this earth, it's the one you are living right now.

So stop worrying about the future. Stop living in the past. Live here and now. Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present.

What I'm writing here, are things we already know. But do we follow it? Do we really live it? There are so many expectations you have to live up to, so many rules, so many boundaries, and for what? Get my drift? Exactly.
Live your dream, enjoy and respect your surroundings, be aware, show your gratitude, and most of all.. don't be afraid to love and let love in.

Namaste

A new Jolene

"It may be those who do most, dream most"

Starting tomorrow it's all about dreaming: I'm going to Amsterdam with a good friend and dream away while we listen to the sweet tunes of godgifted Jason Mraz.

I have never "met" an artist so gifted as him. Both in music as in mind and spirit. Yesterday I concluded that the two best things nature gave us are sun and water. They're in complete contrast, but they combine so perfectly together. His music and personality are kind of the same. Funky, bubbly, enthusiastic. Still, contemplative and endless.

Tomorrow I'll finally see him live, after listening to his tunes for about three years, and be able to feel his energy up front. I'm grateful.


To all those in the European area: enjoy the summer, it's yours.

Jolene