Novelty Has My Heart
No landscape in particular has my heart. It’s the feeling of the place and the people that makes me clutch my chest and hold my breath. From fresh and mountainous to scorching and tropical, from wildlife to city life, I feel myself waking up when I’m surrounded by the unfamiliar.
After slumbering, dulled and numbed by the familiar, for so long, my senses come alive in the novelty, the wild, the unknown. The sweet melody of the locals seduces me and I fall deeply, madly in love. Those otherwise everyday, mundane acts are transformed into new lands to discover and explore.
This transformation gifts me a new lens, and I find myself becoming curious and inspired at every turn. Purchasing fruit or walking along a wooded trail, I feel like a child enraptured by a fantastical tale, the skepticism and worry leaving me. A lightness spreads through me and pushes out the heavy, then swallowed up by the earth.
My movements, now open, and my gaze, now welcoming, attract all sorts of characters and stories. No longer looking the other way or retreating into myself, a stranger from far away becomes my close friend with a chance meeting. I mop up every tear, every chuckle, every sigh. I hope to soak it all up and carry it with me, to hold it in my heart wherever I may go.
