Venice
Ah Venice. It was always my intention to go to Venice since planning my first trip to Italy back in 2008. It didn't happen until this year. If you've heard any of my travel stories, you're probably aware that they are almost always adventures of some kind or another. Italy was no exception. When we planned this trip, my brother and I decided that we would do a night photo tour on our first evening in Venice. I knew it would be a great way to see the sites and navigate around the maze of a city with a local.
However, on our way there, my bag was stolen off the train. Now, thankfully, the bag with my camera and equipment and my wallet and documents was not taken, but all of my clothes and toiletries and other fun things, was. So my first hour in Venice was spent stressed and angry and in tears trying to talk to an Italian police officer and get checked into our Airbnb. There's a lot more that goes into that part of the story, but suffice it to say, I never got my things back.
When we met up with our guide for the photo tour, we filled him in on how our time in Venice had gone (aka, that my stuff had been stolen but our Airbnb was awesome). He seemed surprised I wasn't more upset.
Here's the deal though, and here's where these photos come in to play: One of the things I love most about travel is how it forces me to see what I am capable of. It forces me to look ugly in the face (sometimes that face is my own) and CHOOSE to let it go.
When I put together a meditation for myself about 6 months after this trip, I used this picture with the statement “I am capable”. And it dawned on me last week (I can be a bit slow on the uptake) that I AM capable. Wandering Venice with the clothes on my back and my camera taught me that. Made me confront it, and own it.
I am capable. You are too! Hopefully it doesn't take having your possessions stolen to realize it though.
