I dare. I risk. I go.

Those are the closing words of a very special letter I received tonight. It not only made my day, but my life. It altered my vision of what real friendship means, shifting my mind to an unblurred moment of all-enclosing peace. Of all the swift encounters I've made so far, the close bond with the author of said letter stays forever. It's a feeling hardly felt and similarly hard to find. People strive for it their whole life. The purpose of this first blog post of 2012 is to utter my heartfelt and deepest gratitude for your incredible words, dear author. My humble writing can never be enough as a reply. Please accept this heavenly tune instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdN5GyTl8K0

After having read the words in the letter (which traveled all the way from Europe), I took a moment of deliberation to think about relations between people. And people in general. And life. Upon returning from this journey into the vast realms of my mind, I found the following issues to address: many people are cooler than me or more fun. I get jealous when I have to deal with them. Questions such as "why can't I be like them" pop up in my mind. The same goes for situations created by others: when said situation is better than those I could have created, jealously quickly shows its ugly face. Instead of enjoying the heck out of standing on a friend's rooftop last night, I questioned the non-existence of a such flat on my own. An explanation of why I am just living in a dorm room was requested by my mind soon after. The soundtrack for this dilemma might as well be entitled "Self vs. Self".

Moreover, I also envy people's endeavors, especially if those endeavors are on a "wish to do" list of my own. For instance, I was dreaming about a world trip for a long time, and when I saw several friends of mine embarking on wonderful journeys for several months, I found myself enviously staring at their pictures and reading their stories.
I also talked to a Canadian friend recently who, after having met him in Portugal two years ago, went on a trip through Europe and now resides in Australia. I was congratulating him on his endeavors, saying that I admired his courage to just go anywhere and travel for months on end. He answered that he admired what I did as well. Following his reply, it dawned on me that, after all, I am not too different from the people I admire. Of course I'd like to forget that and only think the others are having the best time while I'm doing nothing. Some people do more, some do less. But nobody does what I do. Therefore, my actions are unique and can only be performed by me. Mimicking others gets nothing done. It's better to express than to expect.

Happy New You,
Martin