It’s almost hard to believe but the grass will always “appear” greener on the other side…. But once you know this, you can be so much more grateful for what you have and where you are.
A year ago today, Nathan and I were getting ready for our move to Nicaragua. We just couldn’t wait to be somewhere new, to have the ocean breeze, unlimited supplies of pineapples and mangoes, to be around new people, and to live a fitter and more active lifestyle in Nicaragua.
Well, 11 months later, we are missing the experience of biting into a nice crunchy apple or chowing down on some corn on the cob. We would love to comfortably wear a pair jeans (and not sweat buckets), and maybe even a nice sweater. We miss the community we had, we miss going to a gym and working out with people, and the convenience of having a grocery store within 10 minutes of our house (right now, we have a 45 minute drive to the nearest grocery store and market).
Living in Nicaragua has been incredibly humbling. Here, we are forced to live an extremely simple lifestyle and there’s so much time for self reflection! I truly believe that coming to Nicaragua has been for a reason; not just for the lessons learned, but also for the purpose of stripping us down to our “raw” selves.
Through being here we have realized what’s important to us and what’s worth chasing after. We appreciate simple things like hot water, and conveniences of a corner store, but also realize that we can absolutely make do without those things. We have learned and lived that the grass will always seem greener somewhere else, but that 90% of the time, it’s just a state of mind.
In moments where we find ourselves questioning why we are here, or in aw of the life we’ve had somewhere else, we have found ways to ground ourselves and nurture the life that we have here. We have learned to appreciate the time that we have to ourselves; the hammock time and endless supply of vitamin D. We can utilize our time to learn something new, to try new things, and to dig a little bit deeper into ourselves (beyond that very superficial layer). It’s amazing what you can discover when you just slow down, almost to an uncomfortable complete halt.
We are very excited about the months to come and projects that we are getting into (including building our first home!) and also looking forward to our first trip to Calgary this September. Soon we will be biting into that fresh off the tree apple, wearing jeans and sweater, and reconnecting with our community from home. We can’t wait!
