How I found clarity in travelling

by May Tarek (Egypt)

Making a local connection Egypt

It's May, a very simple girl ,who never had a simple life. My story begins when one day in work I started getting panic attacks because my life was getting very busy and so full of distracting matters going on. Eventually This wasn’t the life I was looking for. I've always dreamed of peace of mind and calmer life, but how I can reach that when I had a life circle that is so full of responsibilities. One day I got a very severe attack, and that was it, the turning point, I ran to my house having literally two pieces of cloth in a hand bag with little money in my pocket and took the first train to "siwaa", an isolated city in my town that I have never visited but it was the only city I can afford. Once I got there I felt so emotional seeing the clear waves of sea with clouds in above that was pretty much looking like a masterpiece. I started crying I felt like I was so full of heavy feelings on my chest and the sea washed them away, In that specific moment I felt like that was a right decision and running away to a city I knew little about with no money wasn't that bad. I stayed there for 2 months with a very friendly hosting family. I didn’t expect I could ever feel what I felt there, I was finally free, free of constantly worrying about every single thing in my life. I had nothing to think about, I lived there a very primitive life. However it was a meaningful, amazing one indeed. In the second day of arriving there,I signed in a free yoga and meditation workshop, at first I thought that wasn’t going to help me, until I had the most incredible feeling in my whole life. It was my third meditation session by the sea and I began to feel connected to earth, god and even sea. I deeply cried of what I felt. That was when I started seeing life through different eyes. I am no longer over stressing about things, or making life events affects me the way it did befor. Seeing people there having less to wear and use, introduced me to the concept of minimalism which was life changing to me. I am no longer attached to materialistic stuff. I only owe things that makes me truly happy. And I was truly happy since then I started every morning there by appreciation and gratitude of what I see, I saw how nature could affects my whole mood and how I felt connected to it than ever. I also started to be familiar with some kind of animals. Now I am adopting a dog I meet there his name is "brono". I met him when I was volunteering in a local farm house in the city, I saw how beautiful to work for nothing in return, how to help because you want to. It has been a year now and since my trip, my life haven't been the same after that, I am calmer now. I don’t overthink situations in my life, I let things flow as it meant to be, knowing that I have no ability to control things around me. Going to siwa was enlightening. Seeing people taking simplicity as an approach for living, had me thinking of what I have missed because of me complicating things in my life. I realized I should see more and be aware of more. The universe is huge and I need to discover it I need to feel more of what I have felt there.