Mind better left wander
Hey, let’s talk about life. The ideal one that would be the best for you (not the b***h we live in most of the times 😐).
What do you have in mind? A happy family portrait? Living abroad in a great house in a big city? Or maybe even in a small cute house in a village full of greenery and good quality air? Have a good promising career or…. not, living a life like a princess sounds good too.
I am no different than anyone of us. For me, the ideal life is more like a movie or tv series. The romantic comedy one, set up in Manhattan, New York. Oh yea, I basically grew up watching FRIENDS when one TV channel in Indonesia shown them at 5 PM back around ‘98-’99. To this show standard, I’d be living in a loft or two bedroom apartments, in a metropolitan city, sharing it with my fun and easy-going roommate and a cat, taking my day career lightly yet pursuing my passion in art or entrepreneurship on my spare time. Picturing me being basically Rachel Green or rather Monica Geller. Yep, all of those cheesiness of drama scripts.
Back then when I was watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S, days was so full of excitement. It felt so fun and empowering to see the other side of life tens of thousands of miles away from a really small village I used to live in. Does not really matter that it is all fictions, back in my head I knew at least it is a depiction of a real life anyway right? In my head I thought “I’d exchange my life for just a little bit of that life”.
And now here I am, around 20 years later, I did get in touch with a bit of Metropolitan cities like London, Singapore or even actually New York recently though just for three days. I did live in a two bed room apartment in Jakarta with a fun easy going roommate and a cat. There was one period of time that I was really loving the rhythm of my day job and how I balance it with my hobbies. But you know what, I dont think it is how as I pictured how good life should be.
I am currently away from home. Miss my boyfriend, my cat, my bed, meeting good friends and all the perks of being Indonesian in Jakarta (GoJek, Grab, etc, having comfort foods 24/7, getting nice massage, etc). Though maybe when I am back in Jakarta, I’d miss frozen cheesecake from Walmart, having nap at clean parks, strolling around museums, good transportation system etc. Btw, about my trip to these big cities, not even that great y’all. I got scolded in a retail shop in London for asking for a price of a thing that already got price tag. One day after my trip to New York, I got a hint of herpes (or some sort of fungi) on my left arm for sleeping in a very expensive hostel :S
Don’t get me wrong, not that I am not grateful, but your parents are serious when they said “life will get complicated sometime”. But the thing is, we take things that are right in front of us for granted that we instead look over other people’s life. At this time around, I long for much simpler life. I can go days and days being lazy, having 8–10 hours sleep everyday, wake up and take a bath around 9 AM, sing my heart out in the shower, work for 5–6 hours a day during weekdays, get a good workout once in a while, travels once-twice a year and I would be super happy with that.
However, wandering about all of those things that I miss actually keeps me going. For that moment come, I know I will make sure to enjoy it because who knows that it may or may not be around for long. So for us who still wander what is it like to live someone’s life, I’d say keep on wandering because it is actually gives you hope. BUT! Dont forget to appreciate small things too.
Like hot banana fritters (pisang goreng) from the side of the street after a heavy rain for only 1000 rupiah a piece. You definitely cant find it anywhere along Tysons Corner, Virginia, believe me, I have been looking.
Flannygan Riders here.