I have made it back to San Miguel de Allende, and it really has felt like coming home! In my last blog post, Going Home, I wrote, “I want to live a life where I awaken to hot air balloons in the bluest sky I’ve ever seen, and I have time to enjoy them. I want to be still. I want to notice. I want to stop chasing after the world. I want to let the world come to me.”

The Perfect View In San Miguel de Allende

I found the perfect apartment here, that allows me to see the hot air balloons gliding over this beautiful town each morning and to see stunning sunsets each evening. After the constant travel in Asia over the last six months, I need to rest, and this is a perfect place to do it from.

I am enjoying watching the people in the Jardin, the celebrations, the fireworks. I am enjoying the feeling of the way the people in Mexico embrace life, the way they live every moment to its fullest. Being here has reminded me of the beauty of being still. It has shown me how much I can learn from stillness, and that I don’t always need a new adventure or new setting to be happy.

I have learned to see the gift in each moment. I have learned that the real destination, the real place to be explored is myself. I am taking time to reflect right now and to figure out how to best offer my own gifts to the world.

On my journey over this last year, I have learned many things. I have seen that it’s people and experiences that matter the most, not the endless accumulating of possessions that is important. In my old life in the US, I never gave a second thought about why I was working endless hours just so I could own a house, a car, and all the things I was told by society I needed to have to survive. Now that all of my things can be stored in a few suitcases, I have never been happier.

I have also learned that being a part of community and near the friends in my life is more important to me than anything. I am beyond grateful for the community I have found in San Miguel de Allende and for the joy that the people here bring to my life.

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Of course, my travels are far from over. Travel will always be a part of me, and I will always yearn to learn about new cultures and see more of this beautiful world. Lake Atitlan, Guatemala is next on my list and is already calling my name.

Thanks for following along on the adventure! I hope that my writings don’t just inspire you to travel, but also inspire you to find joy, right now, within yourself. For in the end, it doesn’t matter how many places you go outwardly, it all comes down to your expression of who you are inwardly. See the miracle in every day, and if you don’t, then it’s up to you to create it.

With joy and love,

Valen