Ciao from Roma! I genuinely can’t believe it’s already the end of October… where has the time gone?! I’m mixing things up a bit on the blog this week- posting a *long overdue* travel guide later in the week and starting out with more of a general life post. So let's dive right in.
The last few months have gone by more quickly than any other months of my life. For those of you who are new around here, I’ve spent the last 13 weeks living abroad in Europe in pursuit of my dream to see as much of the world as I can. Early into the planning stages of this trip, I booked a plane ticket to fly home at the end of October, which would give me 3 solid months. Between visas, living out of a suitcase, the holidays approaching and how tired I anticipated I would be, it seemed like a good time to head home.
Well, that scheduled flight was yesterday and I wasn’t on the plane. Long story short, I’m sticking around Europe for a little while longer- simply because I’m still not ready to leave.
Let me pause to point out that I’ve never been the person to change a plane ticket or extend a trip. I’ve long been the girl who made plans and stuck to them. In fact, this sort of behavior is the kind I would have typically label as “running away from reality” or “throwing off plans”.
But lately I’ve been coping with the (somewhat scary) reality that I don’t really have a clue what life holds for me after this trip anyway, so what “plans” would I even be breaking?
The work it took to make this adventure happen required so much planning and organization, it’s truly been a full time job this past year. I’ve been asked more times than I can count “What’s next?” and I don’t pretend to know for sure. But I’m learning that “I don’t know” is a brave and honest answer we should all experience in our own due seasons of life. As my favorite author Shauna Niequist says:
“It’s okay not to know right now. That’s sort of the theme of this season for me— letting myself not know the answers to some very important questions. I have a couple questions I need to answer— largely about work & time & what to carry & what to put down. And I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to KNOW. But I just don’t. I just don’t know.
Should you move? Should you stay? Should you change everything or stay on the exact path you’ve been on? Here’s what I’m holding onto right now: it’s okay to not know right this second. It’s okay to live— and even live well— in the uncertain in-between… because when it comes down to it, most of our lives are lived in the in-between.
So here’s to trusting that we’ll know later, sometime down the road. Here’s to living with honesty & kindness & bravery & faith in the in-between. Here’s to not knowing right this second & letting that be absolutely okay."
There’s a lot about the future that I don’t know right now. But what I do know, is that this experience has opened my eyes in so many ways and continues to change me for the better more and more every single day.
You know what else I know? This world is an incredible place. It’s a world with black truffle pasta in Italy and where the Eiffel tower sparkles every night. A world where we can get around by gondolas in Venice or Vespas in Rome. A world where you can go cliff jumping in Santorini or eat scones during high-tea in London. There are vibrant colors like the green grass in the Irish countryside and the turquoise blue water in Croatia. You can eat tapas in Barcelona or stroopwaffle in Amsterdam. You can drink champagne in Paris or sangria in Granada.
You can meet so many amazing and unique people: all who speak different languages and celebrate different holidays and listen to different music. They wear different clothes and laugh at different kinds of humor.
And no matter how far you travel, you'll see the story of God being told everywhere: in ancient ruins, the stars in the Tuscan countryside, the sparkling Croatian waters- even the decadent French pastries.
So yeah, I don’t know what my next chapter holds quite yet, but I do know that this current one isn’t meant to be over for now. And so I’m staying in Europe until mid-December (someone cue “I’ll be home for Christmas”). First stop? Back to London for some more time with my sweet friend Haley.
My only plan these next 6 weeks (aside from playing serious catch-up on the many travel guides I need to write) is to soak up as much of this beautiful, wonderful world as I can. To live well, right in the middle of my not knowing what’s next-- trusting God has answers and they'll come in due time.
So let's be encouraged together-- regardless of whether or not we have answers to life's many questions. All of our stories are unique, but there's a lot of goodness for us all in the meantime.
I'm so excited to share more of the details from my adventures this last month with you guys! Stay tuned later this week for one of many travel guides to come (and in the meantime, be sure to sign up for LIKEtoKNOW.it if you haven't already... I'll have lots of helpful packing tips coming your way!)
xo,
Whitney
