Back To My Future
It’s 4:48AM, and I’m the first one up in the house. Outside is pitch black, my beloved Tia Maria is still sleeping and it’ll be another hour or so before the first pot of tinto is ready.
The day is January 10th, 2020, 10 days since the start of the new decade and a full year removed from my leaving my post as a luxury estate agent at Christie’s to pursue new ventures. Here in the foothills of Colombia’s La Guajira, it feels like I’m a world away from that life. And I am.
A scene from Los Pozos, the village in Colombia where my grandparents reside. Population: approx 100.
Today the plan is to travel to Bogotá, the capital, from Los Pozos, through Valledupar. Then on Monday to fly to The Bahamas, capping an extended holiday here in South America.
I have no idea what to expect back in Nassau. Business has been in limbo since I shut down my office in October and my social life took a dive ever since I decided to prioritise self-care over selfies midway through 2019.
Every aspect of my life - where I live, where I work, who I’m dating - is vastly different than it was just a year ago and yet, I feel no sense of loss or even regret for the changes. Everything happened exactly as it should have. And like a steaming hot cup of chai tea on a cold November day, a thought enters my mind that electrifies my soul:
2020 will be the grandest year of your life.
I can’t explain exactly how I arrived at this conclusion but I know for sure that it is true.
I can feel it in my spirit.
My second mother, Tia Maria, and Esneider David Soler, my nephew.
What I Know For Sure
My time in Colombia, spent mostly off the grid - no cell service, selfies or internet - has been instructive, cathartic and restorative. All the baggage that I was carrying around from a dreadful 2019 was expelled by the endless outpouring of love I received from family members I hadn’t seen in years. I learned about parts of myself I didn’t know existed. I learned that family comes first and that they know you best. Most of all, I learned that the end is never really the end, and that there’s always another chapter waiting to be written.
It’s amazing how much magic can happen when we get out of our own way and let the universe sort things out for us. Colombia showed me how much more I still have to learn, experience and discover, and just when I thought I had seen it all, it showed me that the best is yet to come.
Now that I’m back in The Bahamas, I can feel that the air is different and the tempo has changed. I had to go back to move forward. Back to myself. Back to my future.
xx
Ryan
