Strandvägen
The architecture in Stockholm is simply beautiful.
As I’m somewhat considered as an ‘international person’ and someone traveled a lot (which I don’t really agree), I often get asked which place was the best to live or my favorite out of all the places I’ve been to. Frankly, I enjoyed all the places. I was very fond of learning their/new cultures, eating their food with them, saying their jokes (and understanding of course..), go drinking with them etc.
It’s been almost 3 years since I moved back to Los Angeles and I can already proudly say that I have been very fortunate and met great people. I learn from them constantly and enriches my brain in every possible ways. I’m lucky because I may know just one millionth of people just in LA and still was able to meet these people. The same applies to all the places I’ve been to prior. LA isn’t the prettiest city I have been to but it’s got its merits. As an example, most of the people I know in LA have no idea how nice it is to have the shining sun throughout the year (unless you are allergic to the sun). Just the climate was one of the good reasons for me to move back here after having to deal with mörkret, the darkness nearly half a year every year for almost a decade.
Every places I’ve been to have been great because I think they are great. They all have their own downsides too but they don’t appeal much to me because of all the great experiences I had. Again, because I think they are great. Probably because of the positive mindset that I have.
I’ll share my experience when I was interning in Forth Worth, Texas in 2005. I was there for a little less than two months. It was an opportunity organized by my dad for me to experience something that I probably wouldn’t have ever applied for. I had a routineer job in a rough neighborhood. I was staying at a co-worker’s house and I didn’t even have a car (in Texas). The lady that had the job before had to quit due to giving birth to her child 2 weeks before I came so there was a huge pile of workload I had to go through. So I got to work at 0600 and stayed until 2200 everyday for a week to get the work flow on track. Anyhow for first 3 weeks, I hated everything. I hated the tedious work, the fact that I was either at work or at home almost everyday, co-workers with demoralizing attitude, etc you name it. I wanted to leave that place asap and I actually tried to.
As I recall this moment, I don’t think there was anything remarkable that happened to me to all of sudden change but I think it was when I started to communicate with people around me. There were many straight-out-of-highschool Mexican kids at the work and some already had a child or two which was a bit of a shock to me. Some had a gun shot wound and some had a scar from being stabbed by a knife. A way ‘tougher’ life than what I’ve gone through. I got to know this one guy and asked him how he started to work here (where I hated to be) and he said he simply said that he has to bring food to the table, for his family with a newborn child. He even said that he’s happy that he has this job and seriously I had asked him that question because I pitied him. Well, I guess this was the moment if I were to pick one. The fact that he’s happy with what I thought was unbearable stroke me hard. I looked at myself and I had almost everything he wished to have and I was still complaining because things weren’t as good it used to be. I wanted everything around me to be attuned to what I’m used to in my way. The more I looked at myself the more shameful it was. He felt a responsibility for his family and he was happy that he was able to do something productive about it while I spent my days working and thinking that everything sucks. He’s the guy who got shot in the back an inch away from his spine and the bullet had penetrated his body that left bullet wounds on his lungs. He told me that the god had saved him to give him a second chance. I told him that was horrible but he said he can’t complain because he’s still alive. It was his perspective and way of thinking that was like a bullet that was fired at me. I had been very ignorant about how there are so many things around me to be thankful for. I literally lived a way finer life than this guy but I was still mad how things were better as opposed to this guy being grateful for having something than nothing.
I went home as soon as the work hour was over and went lost in thought and started to look for things that I could appreciate about. Well, it was everything around me, everything. I found a peace of mind and from the next day, although I was doing the same work at the same place but it was different, it was actually much more enjoyable working there. Once I realized that I have nothing to complain about, everything changed. Everything and everyone of course still looked the same but the way I interacted with them wasn’t. And I tell you what, everything that once sucked was actually quite enjoyable. I still remember this experience as one of the most valuable things I have learnt so far in my life. When general people in LA talk about the snow, they think of snowboarding etc and perceive snow as a fun activity etc but when I used to live in Sweden, snow was a pain because I would have to get up in the morning to shovel away the snow on the driveway since ours was slanted. The snow is neutral but we perceive differently based on our past experience with it and that very past is the ground where our thoughts dwell on. Pretty much everything seems to be that way. whether you like something or not, it depends on how you think of it, therefore if you control the way you think, either in a positive way or the other, it will either create faith (maybe love? I think faith sounds more right) or fear.
With that in mind, not only does it apply to the premise of this writing but everything around us. Correct me if I’m wrong but so far, I’m really enjoying my life and am happy! Of course I have tough moments but I’m accept the fact that whatever negative memories cannot be erased, I just keep trying to pay no attention to it. The more I think of it the more depressed I get and simply put, you live an unhappy life, you will eventually die as opposed to you live a happy life, you still eventually die so why not focus on being happy?
I did actually wanted to generally talk about what I had learnt from my international backgrounds but I believe this is something that it more valuable to share.
(I admit that I have digressed quite a bit but they still have a strong relationship in between so hope some of you found this helpful)
This whole thing would definitely not be my answer to those who asks what country/city I like. I just simply say “It depends on how you look at it. I like them all but I can pinpoint a list of memorable places that I would highly recommend.”
