There is an epidemic among 20-something year olds.
It seems that my friends
and I feel like we have everything, and yet nothing at the same time.
Our
generation on the whole are fairly independent, well educated, have the
opportunity to travel or work abroad, to chase good jobs, to get on the
property ladder, to date Mr Right, have beautiful babies, to eat, drink and be
merrier than an elf drinking mulled wine yet still look hot in our disco pants. The problem is- we want it all before
the dreaded 3-0.
I, like many of my travelling cohorts here in Australia, often mention starting our so-called 'real life' when we're done with travelling. We're forever
brain-storming (sorry- thought-showering) 'What To Do With Our Lives'
and the merits of everything from being a pilot to a pole dancer have been
pondered. Do I try and do 3 months of farm work to stay another year in
Australia, go home and do a Masters course, apply for jobs or internships in a place I'd love
to explore further, do a ski season or a stint on a cruise ship, or move to
Bali and become a masseuse?!
It's a blessing and a curse; being of the generation who have the world at their feet, but want to walk all paths, including the road less traveled, to an idyllic ideal destination too hazy yet to make out.
I even read Po Bronson's anecdotal
'What Should I Do With My Life', which only really made me realise that people face this dilemma at all points in their life.
Turning to Tarot...
The other day while I was weighing up my options at the Cairns Night Market
T-shirt stall I ran part-time, a tarot card reader I've befriended offered me a
free reading. I was skeptical at first, but I came out of it feeling far better
about my past choices, present situation and future decisions. Here's what
happened...
My reader shuffled the cards and explained what each card in turn would
mean when he pulled it from the pack. He placed 7
Osho (Indian guru) tarot cards into a V position
representing the wings of a bird; the top wing being my female energies like
intuitions of the heart and the bottom being male representing action.
Cynics- beware- an open mind is required for the rest of this post too!
The first two cards are read together and reveal how I came into this life
from previous ones- I thankfully got 'Moment to Moment' and 'Turning In'. My reader told me I naturally live in the
moment, listen to my heart and am very independent. Sounds about right to me- he also said that I love people but don't need
them- apparently if we need others then we are dependant, but if we build on our
relationship with ourselves and become our own best friend then we can't feel
broken by disastrous relationships with others.
My next feminine card was 'The Fool'. I instantly thought this was a
negative thing but he almost applauded my ability to step off the proverbial
cliff and just trust that everything on
my journey will work out OK, which it will as long as I trust my heart and rid
myself of the bugs in my male energy line' 'The Mind' and 'Politics'.
Apparently my mind is too cluttered by my own thoughts and other people's
advice and I need to gain clarity through meditation and focusing on being
aware instead of thoughtful. I've only dabbled in meditation in the past, for example last year in Byron Bay I instructed a yoga session for a hippy chick who was staying in my tee-pee and in return she talked through an uplifting meditation (I am aware this sounds very hippy but just go with it).
He used the example of playing netball- when we're
playing we're not thinking about what will happen, we are at a heightened state
of awareness so we can act when we feel we need to. If we can have the same
awareness of self in every action from feeling your heart warm when a decision
is right for you to savoring each bite of an apple then life is lived more
fully and yet more simply, leading eventually to happiness. Simple equation,
no?
My female energy line ended in 'Schizophrenia'- he said it's trusting in
myself that will give me the ability to only follow my true desires and not be
influenced by other people's ideas manifesting themselves in my head, like the
hopes of parents, the expectations of past teachers or the comparisons we make
against peers (and, let's be honest- celebrities! Half of them are younger and less intelligent than me but will be able to retire in a few years as long as they don't form a drug or Louboutin habit!)
The last card on my masculine energy side was 'Understanding', where a
picture of a bird being freed from a cage and into the universe served as a
metaphor for 'Super Stacey' (his words not mine) who will live in the moment,
make decisions with my heart instead of my head and have a happy and fulfilled
life doing whatever makes me happy.
I'm looking forward to seeing where listening to my heart will take me, and
instead of waiting for my 'real life' to begin, I'm going to enjoy every moment
of this wonderful one I'm already in. If that means I don't have it all by 30,
then I only have more to look forward to on the run up to 40 :)
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| If I joined Pinterest or Instagram I'd waste half my life finding more inspirational quotes than I have time to ponder :p |
As for now- I've decided to do the 3 months of farm work to qualify for my second year visa- you can expect an update on my farming life once I travel miles into the nearest town for wifi!
Maybe all that time spend in the fields will enable me to meditate, or maybe nursing newborn lambs and driving tractors, planting veggies and learning new things will help me realise that this IS my 'Real Life'- and I love every minute of it.
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| Any excuse for an Oscar Wilde epigram |
