How does one get off the (figurative) treadmill? In Kuwait I am keeping up fitness activities but it is mostly in service of a routine than a lifestyle, and that has convinced me more than ever that the latter is by far the best motivation and methodology. I am currently in a position that, were I still back in England, I would never occupy. I use the gym and I run the same distance and route every day. There are no hills or mountains in Kuwait for hiking, no trails. Just beaches and roads. I am currently amending my thinking and motives in order to adapt because the things I wish to accomplish here are new.
My Base of Operations
I am teaching out here in Kuwait for several good reasons, and a non-career-focused one of those is access to some fascinating places. I have already identified trails and national parks in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Nepal and Iran that I intend to visit. I hope I can get to them all during my stay here, because they look beautiful. Living here means cheap, short flights to these places.
Aseer National Park, Saudi Arabia
I am fascinated with what you might term 'Cradle of Civilisation' locations such as Mesopotamia, Persia, Babylon and suchlike. There is something about such places that has always fascinated me. Add to that Native American culture as that interests me also. I am not sure why or what it is specifically that piques my interest but I hope to see these places.
Petra, Jordan
To visit these places I had to up sticks and move to the Middle East. Change is so difficult, particularly as one gets older, but worth it. I think that this is because personal growth extracts a cost. Letting go of the English countryside and my lifestyle in the UK has not been easy, but that is What You Leave Behind. To make room for new growth the dead wood and foliage must be pruned from the tree. I will return to England, of that I have little doubt, but not until I have invigorated and renewed who and what I am via these new experiences in such unfamiliar places.
The old must give way to the new. Nature abhors a vacuum, so when one goes through a season of life where pruning of oneself is a feature it is important to be prepared to fill the newly-liberated space with something that one is able to become. It is uncomfortable, but stagnation is worse. Growth, however painful and uncomfortable, produces the Good Life.
Qornayel Lakes, Lebanon
The beauty and breathtaking scenery of these places is something that I live to see, but there can be no doubt that I had to leave so much of the old life behind to even get a chance at seeing these places. Sometimes the Good Life, in all of its greatness and glory, is all about What You Leave Behind.
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