Rhythms of Life Down Under

I booked a one way ticket to Australia earlier in September and was in the Land Down Under for the last month of October and some of November. My contract ended in Haiti in Early October and I was scheduled to be on an off-cycle of 3 months. So as I hadn’t been to Australia and the temperature in the Northern Hemisphere started to decrease that time of year, I thought it would be a wise use of my time to spend those 3 months on the southern continent. The last time I was in the Southern Hemisphere in 2022 I had also been interested in visiting Australia. It was a very transformative time for me. I was more intentional about spending time in 1 place rather than pushing myself exploring. In that downtime, I was able to decompress a lot of the non-stop travel and work that has taken place over the last 2 and a half years.

Brisbane, where I stayed was mid-sized city with an urban metro area holding some 2.5 million people. The territory it sits in is called Queensland and represents a warm, tropical temperate environ among Northeast Australia. The freedom to choose a variety of foods was a nice change and a form of relief from where I was in Haiti. In my brief time there in Australia I found it easy to see that the two common core attributes that this continent lends itself to are beautiful beaches and rugged off road trails. There are many more things that fill this country too but these 2 particularly stand out in my mind. In the urban space of Brisbane, I was given to reflection that helped me come up with a few conclusions on what has happened over the last two years. Here are a few summaries to help make some sense of things.

Money matters less to me than experiences.

Stability does have a time and place in my life.

I find resiliency fulfilling when I am being challenged, mentally and physically.

I have become more aware of the accumulations and concentrations of wealth across the globe.

I have come to greater terms with how grey morality can be.

I have learned to become more at peace with the inequality that exists knowing that there will be justice eventually.

These levels of wisdom that come from this nomadic journey with highs and lows are reflective of the state that one can enter after such a period of time. I try to embody a level of faith in something greater than myself. Not everything is figured out, but with a humble approach I continue to walk on. Currently, I am on an island in the Caribbean once again working with Water Infrastructure in the developing world. Much gratitude as always for continued thoughts, musings and prayers.

All the best,