Mange, Prie, Aime

Today I hopped on a train and went to Grenoble to see Eat, Pray, Love in English. I'm glad that I did. I think that with my fragile French, I would have missed out on a lot of messages that Elizabeth Gilbert was sending. Watching this movie was the first thing that's really hit home for me since I've been here. I found myself relating to so many of the things that she was saying and experiencing and it gave me a sense of hope after walking out of the theater. It definitely makes me want to stop and take a few steps back to look at my life. There's so much going on around me that sometimes it can get overwhelming and I miss out on feeling to the full extent. I want to find my balance and live within it. I, too, want to marvel at something.

I know this all probably sounds silly, but movies or stories like this really stick with me. It reminded me of the way that I felt after watching Into the Wild. There are so many life lessons that can be learned from the experiences of others. There's so much that we let slip by us from day to day that could easily have shifted our entire outlook on life if we had stopped to appreciate it. I may not be going to Italy to eat, India to pray, or Bali to fall in love, but what I am doing is taking the same journey to self discovery that Elizabeth Gilbert took. I can't let that slip through my fingers. I can't let any opportunity go to waste here. I can't let any feeling be neglected because every feeling, good or bad, shapes me. I feel good. I feel like there's change on the horizon. It is October, after all. Good things always happen in October.

Since I've been here I've found myself slowly discovering more of what I want. I'm learning what my passions truly are and trying to make decisions solely for me and not for others. That's part of the reason that I've started looking more into my education and what to do post graduation. Nothing is set in stone yet and right now I'm only gathering information to make an informed decision, but I feel like I abandoned something that I was really passionate about for an inexcusable reason. Fear. I quit something because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to come out on top. I can't let fear run my life anymore. I have to let fear be the motivation that whatever it is I'm fearing is probably something worth risking it all for.

Leave it to Julia Roberts and a new life in France to get me thinking :)