I felt satisfied about my little day out so far. It was a dark, windy fall morning. Sun was peaking through the grayness of the sky, casting a silvery ambience. Dried leaves made a little dance every time a bus or a car zoomed on the road. Many trees were done with their shedding and were already hibernating with their bare branches... Some still had gorgeous yellow leaves dancing beautifully with the wind. It was as ethereal as a fall morning can be.
Content with the cozy experience so far, and after splurging on a lot of cute stuff, I decided to head back. The bus was gonna be late, so I decided to just walk downhill. On my way back I passed by a familiar apartment complex. It was one of the apartment complexes I came to check out when I first moved to Seattle. Even though I walked along that route many times before, this time it triggered me. I started wondering what if I decided to stay in this apartment instead. Queen Anne is a lovely neighborhood; very convenient too. I remember liking the apartment as well. I decided to not take this one because there was only one bus running through that route and that would have been inconvenient for going to work. I signed up for another apartment because it was pretty and i had better bus access and walk-ability to my work. But only after moving there I discovered the inconveniences of that place.
My mind went into a rabbit hole of how my life would have been different if I had chosen to stay in this apartment instead. I tried hard to pull myself out of my rabbit hole and tried my best not to get overwhelmed by my own emotions. As I climbed down hill, the looming Space Needle, and the majestic view of Puget Sound reminded me about how lucky I am to be living in this beautiful city. As someone who loves to live in nostalgia, I often find myself in the center of a fractal of possibilities, and scenarios and getting drowned in "what ifs". In that moment of clarity I realized that if I chose to stay in that apartment, life would have been better in many ways, but difficult in many other ways. I took the best decision I could at that time and lived its consequences.... and I tried to console the me who gets trapped in the fractal of possibilities, that other decisions that I didn't take could have taken me into different life paths, with their own share of blessings and struggles, just like the blessings and struggles that came with the decisions I took. It would not have been better or worse; just different. That comforted me a bit. In fact, I am feeling slightly more comforted even as I am writing it now. And I reluctantly took a leap out of those fractals and tried to ground myself.
I remembered a time when I was panicking about the whole adulting process and I would think, "I don't want to be an adult! It is too scary! Too many responsibilities, too many decisions to make and it is overwhelming!!!" I think i have a long way to go to heal the young me that still feels scared and overwhelmed... may be one day, but it will need a lot of hard work.
Coming back to my walk downhill, I kept cruising while drifting through my tangled thoughts, the beautiful view ahead of me, pretty primroses, and jumbled memories. Soon I arrived at the foot of the hill. I decided to take a bus for the remaining part of my journey. The cold autumn morning, which began with a few people on the streets slowly trying to wake up, led me to the coziness of family and friends huddled together, chatting away. It was a day filled with warm interactions with strangers and friends, and lovely aroma of coffee and pastries, delicious food, and the sound of music. And now that I headed back, I found people around me - the ones standing in the bus-stop, traveling in the bus, and walking along the sidewalks- looked much more alive and prepared for the day; and so was I.
I came back home feeling proud of myself for my little day out and took a lovely restful nap as a reward. And the journey of healing will continue for many more years... (Can I just roll my eyes and lol at it yet?)