It hasn't really hit me yet that I am finally leaving Siena. The place that has been my home for the past two months. I spent the past two days packing, revisiting, remembering, and saying goodbye. It's a pretty strange experience—living somewhere so completely new and foreign, spending just enough time there that things that used to be strange become normal, then abruptly packing up and leaving. But I can't help thinking that this isn't goodbye forever. I have this constant thought in the back of my head that I'll be back. It's not a question in my mind. I WILL be back. But it’s goodbye for now. The people I have spent every day with for the past two months will soon go back to their own lives in their own homes. The language, food, and customs that I have come to know and expect will soon be replaced by something else. Streets, stores, and buildings that I have become so familiar with will soon be hard to remember. For some reason I don’t feel like that’s fair. And I don’t like change. I do not like change. I hold on to things for too long after they are gone. And this one’s going to be a hard one to let go of.
There are some things I need to make sure to remember. I know this sounds cliché, but this type of (relatively) long term adventure changes a person. Even if it’s in small, hard to identify ways. It will be hard to join my old familiar life with the new things I have learned. But if I don’t remember and make use of the things I’ve learned here and the ways I’ve changed, it’s almost as if there was no point to the past two and a half months. I would somehow feel very ungrateful. To who, I don’t know. But you know one thing I learned here in Italy? Going across the world to the most beautiful and romantic place you can imagine doesn’t make a person happy. Being happy makes a person happy. Italy, Switzerland, Provo, Fez. It doesn’t matter. You DECIDE to be happy, no matter where you are.
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, or circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
There are some things I need to make sure to remember. I know this sounds cliché, but this type of (relatively) long term adventure changes a person. Even if it’s in small, hard to identify ways. It will be hard to join my old familiar life with the new things I have learned. But if I don’t remember and make use of the things I’ve learned here and the ways I’ve changed, it’s almost as if there was no point to the past two and a half months. I would somehow feel very ungrateful. To who, I don’t know. But you know one thing I learned here in Italy? Going across the world to the most beautiful and romantic place you can imagine doesn’t make a person happy. Being happy makes a person happy. Italy, Switzerland, Provo, Fez. It doesn’t matter. You DECIDE to be happy, no matter where you are.
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, or circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes."
Charles R. Swindoll
5 comments:
Such beautiful words from my beautiful girl. I can hardly wait to see you, hold you, again.
Hey where is Fez?
i love that quote! oh you're so wonderful Sharlie! can't wait to see you again!
Ha! Fez.
You are wonderful.
Sharlie I think that's great that you put in writing something you want to remember because you will look back on these days and want to recreate what you've learned. I think this blog was a great memory of Sienna. You know you can make this blog a book? On blurb.com :) Great site!
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