Gypsyglittersoul

22/02/2020

If you ask me, we are here to do hard things.
We are here to take up space and hug and say what we mean even if it makes our palms sweaty.
We are here to have fun and cultivate connection and test our limits while discovering a life we love. ❤️

As ignorant as it may sound, I had no idea what the Camino de Santiago represented when I stepped foot onto that dusty, coastal Portuguese trail in July. A colourful map from a Porto credential off…

15/11/2019

Transformation is not always razor sharp nor arrow fast.
Sometimes, it takes weeks.
Months.
Mountains later before your shoulders finally settle back.
Breath expands into belly.
Lightness returns to step.
And you come to realize that you are no longer the same woman who started this journey around the sun those 365 days ago.
In all the places where this year may have forced you shut,
You have slowly encouraged yourself to reopen.
For all the heartache that may have caused walls to build,
You have cautiously allowed yourself to dismantle.
For all the authentic love that you unknowingly pushed away,
You have begun to believe yourself worthy to receive.
Seeing, for perhaps the first time, a reflection of the unimaginable beauty you’d been deserving of all along.
And, if your 32nd year taught you anything about anything, it was this:
It’s okay not to be okay.
It’s okay to think you were over it and then have it all resurface again.
It’s okay to not rush the process in an effort to avoid the messy part in the middle -
That awkward phase where you reach for your future just before you shed the layers of your past.
For, contained within the ‘in between’ is a necessary formula for growth.
Gifting every ounce of experience.
Perspective.
And resilience needed to meet the opportunity that’s coming next.
So, be patient.
Give yourself permission to be Who you are.
Where you are.
And to still be loved for it.
Because, life’s miracles take longer than settling ever will. 💓
When one of the most talented humans who holds a piece of your heart captures this, and a thousand other priceless moments, of your step-by-step metamorphosis. 🐛✨🦋
📸:

30/10/2019

I’ve looked at this photo a hundred, maybe even a thousand times, since it was captured almost two weeks ago amidst the snow-capped peaks of Mother Nature’s most breathtaking backdrop.
And still, all these steps.
All these days.
All these heartfelt unveilings later.
It never ceases to amaze me how, with a solitary glimpse, I can be transported right back to the palpable alchemy of the trail.
Morning sunshine on skin.
Smile on lips.
Fresh air in lungs.
Lightness in step.
Gratitude in heart.
Freedom in spirit.
And, even now, I can’t help but close my eyes and relish in it all.
What a beautiful gift it is to have, contained within a single photograph, the reminder that -
No matter how many things may fall away, there is and will continue to be moments in my life when I am exactly Who I need to be. ✨❤️
Feeling all the feels as I reflect on those incredible moments conquering the alongside and our family last week! Together, we did it - and it’s just the beginning. ✨💪🏔

27/09/2019

Yet, amidst the feverish seeking to receive validation from the external, comes that all powerful moment in which the universe presents exactly what’s needed to start making oneself a priority.
The breaking point.
The un-ignorable catastrophe.
The painful, but necessary “school of life” crash course in self-love. ❤️

This morning I woke up to warm sunshine on my face in a bright, pink-walled room of my quiet guesthouse in Pokhara, Nepal. I lay in complete stillness, listening to a chorus of birds outside the to…

30/10/2018

I lay in total stillness as goosebumps slowly dress my sun-kissed skin.
Unrestrained tears flood my swollen eyes.
And I can’t help but think - this is it.
This is richness.
Bliss.
The high that I mistakingly spent years seeking out through the use of drugs, alcohol, s*x, and the need to be loved at any cost without ever even liking myself first.
This is it.
Only now, this heavenly intoxication stems from something different.
Something internal.
An indescribable liberation in the depth of my being that unfolded the moment l softened.
Surrendered.
And began experiencing life for the gift it is, instead of instinctually fighting with it.

It’s moments like this – as I return home to my familiar little room for one last night’s sleep in the very bed that’s become my sanctuary over the past six weeks, that I somehow give my emot…

02/10/2018

I guess it’s true – this life really does hold special magic for those who dare to dream.
And, the seamless perfection of the past two weeks is the only reminder I’ll ever need to keep confidently moving in the direction of every single aspiration that lights my soul on fire.
Fearless in pursuit of what matters.
And unwilling to settle for anything less than amazing.
Because I’ve now come to understand that this world doesn’t need me to stay quiet.
This world doesn’t need me to play small.
This world only asks that I keep dreaming big.
Feeding the faith.
Starving the doubt.
And fiercely trusting of the only heartbeat that will guide me to where I’m destined to be – the one beating in the centre of my chest.

It was the hardest departure yet. One that I wasn’t sure I would fully recover from. The heartache. The tears. The kind of goodbye that had me uncomfortably sitting in the airport lounge flirting w…

21/08/2018

Fast forward three years, a career change, dozens of new places to call home, hundreds of heartbeats who graciously entered my life, hundreds who left, thousands of first times, and even more changes in opinion about concepts I never expected to waiver on. Yet, amidst all the transformation, one thing remains consistent.
I continue to choose myself first.
And, although there are still days when the doubt seeps in and I’m unexpectedly tested beyond measure, I have become comfortable living a life that others may not understand. For, in my experience, unimaginable freedom unveils in the moments I dismantle the pressure to please and appease everyone else. And, I know that, at the end of the day -
All that will matter.
All that will ever mean anything.
Is the relationship I have with the world I carry around right inside of my chest.

I suppose it was destined to happen. In returning back to the very place that housed all of the happiness, all of the hardness, and the years of chaos in between, a host of emotions were bound to b…

13/07/2018

Yet, despite a million reservations as to why it wasn’t my path, I allowed the excitement and eagerness of the beautiful people around me to dictate my decision. I collected all the necessary gear and set off for what, I believed, was going to be a less-passionate replication of a familiar trek. However, to my surprise, the trail threw curve ball after curve ball directly at my all-knowing face.
Tested me in ways I had not thought possible.
Forcefully pushed me to the edge of my comfort zone.
And, throughout seventeen days of walking, presented me the opportunity for even more growth than it had the first time around. Those days on the Annapurna circuit proved, once again, to hold within them a thousand step-by-step reminders that Mother Nature and her mighty ridges will always be my greatest teacher.

The truth is, I wasn’t all that eager to trek the circuit for a second time. The mountains had called me once and, graciously amidst that 150 kilometre loop, I’d been gifted something greater than …

06/06/2018

And that right there, is the magic of returning home to one’s happiest place.
Be it the mountains, the sea, a grassy backyard, or a familiar kitchen table – it makes no difference.
Homecoming.
A concept that cannot be defined as a solitary place on this earth, a destination pinned on a map, or a location to be sought out.
Homecoming as a feeling; a welcomed reunion of the past and present.
The revisiting of oneself with more mature eyes and a palate full of extra colours.
And thankfully, somewhere amidst those 400,000 gruelling uphill steps – one foot mindfully placed in front of the other, I finally understood:

Homecoming is the gracious rediscovery of all the miraculous little things about this beautiful existence that I hadn’t even realized were there the whole time. ❤️✨🏡

It was close to three years ago when we first met – yet, as if it were only yesterday, I remember every last detail about our initial introduction. In the beginning, I barely showed up. A mee…

26/01/2018

“Let this moment be a reunion with all the buried parts of yourself that you do not permit to be exposed in public.
The pieces that too often get left behind.
The messiest portions of Who You Are that get tucked away for fear of judgement and criticism.”
❤️✨

Let this moment be a reunion with all the buried parts of yourself that you do not permit to be exposed in public. The pieces that too often get left behind. The messiest portions of Who You Are …