Weekly Reflection 1
Crossposting my XC newsletter
I write a weekly reflection for the students at Xavier (where I work), and thought I might start cross-posting it here.
Hey everyone,
I’m back from Italy and Portugal! And the newsletter is back!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll write a lot about World Youth Day, everything we did, saw, heard, learnt. For now, I want to write about the experience of travel - what it’s like to leave for a while, then come back.
I always find the last moments before a trip quite eerie. The final few hours at home, tidying away your things, turning off the lights, leaving behind everything familiar. You know that everything will stay where it is, your clothes in the same piles, your pillows right where you left them. Nothing, in the order of things, will shift, even though you yourself will be changing - seeing new things, meeting new people, making new memories.
I suppose there's something comforting about that. When you come back, changed by your experiences, you’ll return to the exact same surroundings. The same pictures and posters. The same books on your shelf. The same paint on the wall.
Even so, you’ll see those familiar surroundings through fresh eyes. Even if the space itself is undisturbed, it’ll feel different to live inside it. Because that’s one of the great things about travel. Yes, you get to go to a new place and see new, exciting things. But once you’re done, you also get to return to the old place, see the old, ordinary things with fresh eyes. And that's often what changes you the most.
Questions for reflection this week:
What are some old, ordinary things you can look at with fresh eyes?
What are some parts of your life that you tend to take for granted?
If you were to fly overseas today, who or what would you be leaving behind?
Very insightful