Last night, I told Mr. Hercules that I really want to go back to Thailand.
"I'm sorry," he said. He was referring to the fact that we are in the middle of buying a home, and will be completely broke for the next few months, and unable to travel--abroad or otherwise--for awhile.
"Don't be sorry!" I said. "Just because we can't go now doesn't mean that we'll never go back. We'll be back in a few years," I grinned. I was content with my memories.
It doesn't matter that we awoke within us the longing to travel while we were there. It doesn't matter that we won't be able to again for awhile. We are content with remembering the little family-owned cafe off the main street in Hua Hin where we had the best onion rings I've ever had in my life. We're content with watching video we took of the absolutely insane and amazing maneuvers of the tuk-tuk drivers down the streets of Chinatown in Bangkok. We are content with remembering how it felt to lay on the beach underneath a warm sun, trying to catch hermit crabs on Coral Island.
Today I read a post called "Contentment in Five Short Stories" by Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity. At the end of his post, he said:
"I know that contentment is more of an internal state of being rather than something that is
derived through external circumstances. Yet, I am human and therefore influenced by my surroundings.
Could I have this feeling anywhere? Yes. But I also don't mind going to Thailand or Toronto to find it."
I've had several people tell me since we've come back from our trip to "get over" wanting to go back, because we've seen it before. John Burroughs said, "To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday." So we want to go back.
We found contentment in Thailand, because we found contentment in ourselves. We had it before, but what we brought home was more focused, and helps us to find contentment eating a bowl of ice cream watching a Netflix movie, knowing that we won't be traveling again for awhile, but that's ok. We discovered ourselves again in Thailand, and are content with that.
What brings you contentment?
{ As a side note, I find contentment in this being my 300th blog post.
Thanks for sharing it with me. }
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I've had so many similar thoughts these days. :)