Where in this world am I?

by Amy Sermon (Australia)

A leap into the unknown Malta

Two worlds: Digital or Conscious. The plane makes its entrance on what had turned from a runaway to a red carpet, and the crowd goes wild. An applause for safely landing. Or was it me they were applauding? Possibly the only person on a plane who did not have headphones in on a flight. Unlikely. The plane had landed and knocked everyone back into consciousness. Here I am, a typical Australian girl longing for that hot European summer. Landing in Malta definitely fit the description. A country I had not been to before yet with no expectations in mind, Malta could present its raw impression to me. My private transfer awaits outside. A Maltese man, one of 12, has seen the good, the bad and the ugly yet welcomes me with a smile. What he spoke of was not negatives nor boasting positives, yet a mixture of both his life growing up and what Malta had to offer. He spoke his reality. A man who spent major parts of his life in the conscious world, even when technology was introduced. This here is what I loved about travelling, meeting locals who often gave me the impression they were not as drawn to their phone as people were back at home. The engagement with others enticed me to gauge what their perspectives were on life, not only opening my mind but shaping it too. Not to speak in riddles however, I am Natalie Imbruglia; I am “Torn”. Travelling often I have comes to terms that I am drawn to the beauty of what my eyes see, with an urge to capture it… with my phone and upload it to social media. In parallel, I absorb my surroundings as I feel what keeps my creative mind alive is when I focus with attentiveness of my actions and words. Tonight was the night my options were narrowed down, leaving me with nothing but my consciousness by the morning. “Cocktails are two for one”. The bartender voices, as if it were a sudden realisation. Alternatively, my realisation was that this was going to be a big night. Pub crawl they call it when realistically, it was a pub sprint. Time escaped me. I was in purgatory, not living digitally yet not fully attentive enough to be conscious. Is anyone really attentive when alcohol has flooded their body? Ironically enough, not entertaining my phone was what allowed it to be stolen. Patting where my bag should be, brought back my self-awareness. My phone, card, money, gone. Autopilot: off. After changing my passwords for everything and locking both my card and my phone. I was locked out of the digital world and literally had nothing left to lose. I was in an unknown world that brought nothing but bliss and excitement as I was accepting of a situation that most of my family and friends would lose their mind over or put their holiday on hold for. The kind gesture from a regular traveller to Malta was what gave me a moment to believe that I could live a life outside of the screen however, this reality could only easily be lived as a nomad. At home possible but difficult. My eyes were soaking up the landscape, the soft waves of the ocean as it carried me gently and the crowded shoreline, with more people on the sand than in the water. It hit me that I did not shed one tear over my phone. I did not need the digital footprint of google following me like my shadow, just the footprints of mine that could be swept away in the sand. The only occasions I went to feel for my phone, alike to a reflex action were the times I had to check into a flight or voice my presence to my family for safety reasons. Phones were created for communication and safety until we invited them into playing a bigger role in our life. Grateful was how I felt, to have had the last third of my holiday living my life consciously. Malta took away my digital world. And the crowd goes wild. A mental applause for myself safely landing into a conscious world.