Welcome to the first article of my blog!
I introduce myself.
My name is Caterina, but friends have always called me Kate. I am an Italian girl who currently lives in Lanzarote: a beautiful island of the Canary archipelago. Here I started to meditate and live a quiet and relaxed life, trying to follow, day after day, all my dreams.
How did I get to LANZAROTE?
As I wrote in the ABOUT ME section, in Italy I was leading a rather stressful, uncontrolled and disorganized life without any prospect for the future. Some of the decisions I made in the past have been influenced by what my parents and family wanted of me, and I often felt guilty when I wanted to do what I really liked and I was never really happy. At the University I was studying subjects I didn’t like and to escape from them I used to work for a student association, organizing parties and trips. This activity gave me some satisfaction at first, but some time later routine and monotony started to take over.
Besides this, there is a toxic relationship that, although it may have started well, has brought to light the worst sides of my character, at the time agitated, anxious, argumentative and easily irritable. With all this suffocating environment I felt more and more depressed and misunderstood, as if society was pulling me in its dark vortex, leaving me with no strength to react.
But, one day ,I hit rock bottom: the toxic relationship ended and my recurring thoughts were depressing. By that time nothing had any sense without that person, with whom I believed I shared dreams and projects. For a period I was drowning in the worst depression, only thinking about why the universe was being cruel to have so unjustly punished me. I didn’t understand how it was possible to experience such pain, after giving my heart and trust to someone. I didn’t want to eat anymore and I didn’t sleep at night, I only went out if I knew I could meet this person … but every time I went home in an even worse state than the previous one.
I don’t remember what happened in my head, but one day I woke up in a different way from the usual, thinking that I needed to do something that I really loved. So my mind began to travel … yes, travel! It was just what I wanted to do! It was December, it was cold in Italy, and I wanted to travel to a warm place, to jump into the ocean and to feel myself alive again … and so it happened. I knew where I could buy a plane ticket, I knew perfectly the airline websites. When my eyes saw an offer for the Canary Islands I had no doubt: I had to book! Duration: one week. And so the flight was mine. Soon after, I informed my parents, who were not happy at all and tried to dissuade me: “Where does a girl go, alone, many miles away! But most of all, a few days after the Paris attack!”
For once I only listened to my heart. What else could it be if not the best choice of my life? Not only did I do that trip … but I also decided not to return anymore! I fell in love with the life I was living in this magical island, I felt I finally belonged to a place. I found a job and a place to live and decided to cultivate and follow my passion for photography. The breathtaking panoramas of Lanzarote introduced me to a more direct contact with nature and I began to meditate. Day after day, my agitated and perpetually anxious character began to disappear following the quiet “flow” of the island. At the same time, the more I was relaxed, the more opportunities and benefits begun to appear in my life.
Finally, for the first time,I have no doubt I can finally consider myself truly Happy. Happy with capital H, pure, spiritual happiness that makes me appreciate the little things the world has to offer and suggest to me every day. I learned to listen, to think, to not judge, and to not be too impulsive. I learned that the more we smile at life, the more life smiles back at us and giving us exciting opportunities. Opportunity like my job: every time I see a beautiful picture, it gives me a magnetic feeling of gratitude for being part of this amazing universe.
The idea of this blog is to reveal simple tricks to achieve happiness even if it seems impossible and far, and to help people who are facing a difficult time and do not know where to start or who simply want to change their life but are too negative or too anxious to really put it into practice.
In addition, on this site under construction there’s a guide dedicated to the beautiful and magical island that made me feel reborn, Lanzarote. This guide enhances its most spectacular and evocative places, in which I get lost every time I visit them.
I conclude the article with a quote from Mark Twain, which I hope you can seize and exploit to the best, as I am doing!
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!
