Today is the last day of the year.
It’s another day on the fabulous island of Gili Trawangan.
Today I spent my day in two timelines.
Most of the day in the paradise of the present.
And for a while – measured by the grains of sand flowing from my palm – I got a taste of the past.
At the end of the year, it’s somehow inevitable.
A slow walk around Gili Trawangan
I live in the world of Lost Slippers.
I saw a lot of lost sandals, flip-flops and flip-flops during my tour today. Most of them are waiting for a better future alone, but surprisingly, they are often bored in pairs.
And I have not only encountered them on the beach in recent months. They also appear in quite unexpected places. I have seen lost footwear on the road, on the sidewalk, and even in shops.
I spent my morning alone, but I did not feel like a lost slipper.
I woke up exactly when I set the alarm, but in the end I turned it off for the sake of my roommate’s peace.
After eating a simple, healthy Indonesian breakfast, I set off.
I planned a walking version of yesterday’s cycling tour of the island today.
I went around the island of Gili Trawangan along the ocean.
I took tons of photos along the way, swam several times, and even stopped for a beer.
The island’s beach is not only perfect for walking around, stumbling around in the sand and wading in the water – it just beckoned me to do so.
Yesterday I told you about how the sand is sometimes brown, sometimes white. I forgot about black. Sure, there are places where the sand is black. This is a common color on Indonesian beaches.
On the way, I alternated between hard sand, soft sand that goes down to my feet, and sections of the beach covered with coral fragments.
The water is so pleasantly warm! For some reason, I remembered that it was much warmer than the water running from the shower in my room in Denpasar.
It also comes in many colors – mostly the one everyone imagines, the unadulterated sea blue, with light and dark shades.
Fortunately, the beach is not really littered with trash, and the water is perfectly transparent.
The beer was served at the perfect temperature. I usually drink from a glass, but the bar had a few oddly shaped mugs, so I made an exception and ordered one. I gave it to the experience.
I met few people. Maybe everyone was getting ready for New Year’s Eve, or it was just hot. The kind of hot that many adjectives came to mind.
The trees on the beach impressed me. With their twisted bodies, they exuded a dignified calm, while providing a mind-blowingly pleasant shade.
Dignified service. That’s the phrase that came to mind about them.
One of them invited me to meditate under it, and I gladly accepted the invitation.
I was moving slowly on this road. I covered the 7.5 km distance in almost 4 hours.
Perhaps this is because the road wanted to show me a lot today. The sea did not move at all. Sometimes it caressed me gently. In other places, it tried to knock me off my feet.
There were places where I was walking in knee-deep water, slowly because the rocks were slippery. In return for the slow pace, I could see a lot of sun-bathing crabs.
The water was an obstacle in a few places, and at other times it gently rocked as I lay on its surface.
The only – less friendly – condition today was the sun. As usual, I didn’t use sunscreen today either. After a while, my body turned a pleasant red, the color of boiled crab. Interestingly, the sun-bathing crabs were green and brown.
At the end of the tour, I sat down to drink a coffee in a shady bar.
And I just admired the colorful cavalcade of boats bobbing in front of me.
Burn and keep it!
This is not only the title of this paragraph, but also of the rest of my day.
After the hike, I took a nice shower to remind myself that getting burned is not such a good thing. Fires are also put out with water, so it seemed like a great idea to repair the damage caused by my own stupidity with water.
I burned a small amount of energy during the walk, so I did something I haven’t done in a while. I ate half of the chips in the room.
I also balanced out the active energy consumption with a short afternoon nap.
I compensated for the laziness of the days without work by writing this article.
I was outside, I was inside. I gave my all and I spent myself.
I think this characterizes my entire year, but I will write about it in the time measured by the grains of sand that flow from my palm.
Now I’m going to get on my bike, maybe I’ll ride around the island again. In the meantime, I’ll find my friends.
Yesterday we found a great bar, where we danced a lot and drank a little until nightfall.
It’s possible that today we’ll dance a lot and drink a lot.
I’ll continue studying the life of flip-flops and at the same time I wish you a happy new year, my dear reader!
Why am I grateful for this year?
Out, in, giving, receiving, spending and filling…
This is a time of reckoning.
I am 12,000 kilometers away from my homeland.
And much further away from my former self.
A year ago I made a brave “Decision”.
I gave my life a new direction.
I created space for myself to get closer to myself.
So now I am as close to my inner self as I have never been before.
I learned to be present in my life.
I found silence and was able to keep it within myself.
I found peace within myself and was able to stay there.
Among the many important decisions, I made two stand out within myself.
I want to live honestly.
And I want to live respectfully.
I have made many new connections with great people, learned a lot from them and influenced many of them.
I have improved a lot in keeping my boundaries.
I have opened doors that take me forward and closed doors where there are things that do not serve me right now.
I have experienced. I have learned. I have lived.
I am experiencing. I am learning. I am living.
I will experience, learn and live.
I am grateful to myself that I have trusted, trust and will trust in the flow.
And the soul leads me on.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
Linktree
Short introduction