One Moment

March 19, 2015

There is one moment in everyone’s life that sticks out. One moment that you will remember forever. That memory may bring with it a whole lot of other memories or it may cause your life to go in a new and unknown direction.

The one moment that changed my life and sent me on a path that would end up living in Thailand came ten years ago in 2005.

I was married at the time. We had been married since 2002 and, although we were getting on OK, we had started to drift apart and were more like brother and sister than husband and wife.

One day I said “Why don’t you go away and think about what you want?”

His reply- “I can’t because of work.” He had in mind that he was working for our future together. Which is a good thing? No?

But it’s all very well planning for the future but if you don’t work at the present the future could be very different to how you imagined it.

“Be careful not to look so far ahead, that you miss what’s in front of you” Jeremy Aldana

So, what were we to do? Continue living in a marriage that was less than 100% happy?

A few days later I was out with my friends and, as girls do together, we were chatting about my situation. And then it hit me, like the proverbial epiphany. Why don’t I take my own advice? Why don’t I be the one to go away and think about what I want?

So I did.

I took myself to Australia for the first time. I went for two months. Alone. Well actually I stayed with family but I still went alone. It was the bravest thing I have ever done. I had never been anywhere on my own before. I was 37.

I had a great time there and spent countless hours walking and talking to myself trying to work things out in my head about what the hell I should do. Cheap therapy! It worked though.

I moved out three months later, bought my own house and two years later I returned to Australia. A year after that I went travelling for ten months. Three months after that I moved to Thailand. And have been here on and off since then.

I love my life now and I couldn’t be happier. My life as I know it now stemmed from that one moment and it is something I will always remember.

Throughout life everyone travels down certain paths and sometimes things happen that will see you on a different path.

And although that one moment might make you feel scared or unhappy- know that you will be stronger for it. What doesn’t kill you right? Think of it as exciting because you never know where your new path with lead you.