So long Maggie & Townsville...

Goodness. It's hard to believe that nearly 2 and a half months ago I was arriving onto Magnetic Island with my newly acquired best friend (miss you buddy), excited and eager to meet some new friends, and get stuck in and enjoy island life. When I found out I could hire snorkel equipment for free, play free pool, explore the island and enjoy numerous walks on the beach, and enjoy the beautiful sunshine daily I was sucked in. Seriously sucked in. I envisioned living a ridiculously healthy lifestyle, working out on the beach and running daily (ha ha), but naturally this never materialised... Eating food I'd never have back home (burgers and chips!!) and drinking enough alcohol to drown a sailor was evidently more appealing.

As I'm writing this I'm sat on a Greyhound bus heading towards Cairns, naturally stealing the free Greyhound wifi (all I can hope is that my 33+ hour bus journey to Darwin when I eventually go will also have free wifi). I'm full of excitement, anticipation, and wanderlust. It's been a long time since I've been a proper backpacker and it's so refreshing. I'm excited to see new places, meet new people, and have new stories to tell. On top of this, I've managed to bag a two week (maybe more?) regional work place in Atherton, near Cairns. How exciting! It's unpaid but I get free food and accommodation for 5 hours work per day, with Sunday off. For two weeks I can easily do this! 

Anyway, back to Maggie...

The last week was exciting. Really exciting. I'd had a few down moments before (and I mean to the point where I just wanted to leave the island and go home) which was really questioning my plans and intentions. A few (hypothetical) slaps around the face, home truths, and talks later and I'm back on the high.
Living the life. Living the dream. And naturally not giving a damn what other people think of me. We dressed up in bin bags and promoted the evening, drew the boards, laughed, danced, and didn't care... 




Maggie taught me several things. It taught me that being anything but yourself is a major no-go. I have my reasons why I was acting the way I was but I couldn't accept that I'm liked for ME, not for being someone else or someone I'm not. My little quirky aspects of my personality are GOOD, that means that yours are too. If people don't like them or can't accept them then you know what you need to do right? You need to get rid of these people in your life. 

My main problem is that I want to be friends with everyone. Living on an island and working with a group of people who're really good friends already is difficult because you just want to fit in. You just want to be accepted and liked by everyone despite your differences. For me that involved drinking far too much, not being true to myself, being with the wrong people (and wrong guys), and forgetting who I am. Major no no. 


Leaving Maggie was therefore a rather exhilarating thing for me. I felt free. I felt like I was leaving a lot of drama behind and I had a chance to start again... Again. It was also quite emotional. I'd learnt a lot about myself in those two months and I'm thankful for the arguments, fall outs, and people that I met - even if we didn't get along.

Reason, season, lifetime - people enter our life for a reason. They teach us lessons, highlight things that we like or dislike, and let us move forward...

It was also emotional leaving one of my bosses. She said I was the hardest working employee in the ten years she'd been there and that meant an awful lot. I know I was only working for accommodation but in my eyes that didn't matter. It was still a job. 

So. Back on the mainland with a girl I'd met a month prior, someone who saw me for ME not someone else, we had an explore. We met some friends she'd met 2 years ago, we drank wine, laughed, and loved life. Then we met a guy she went to university with and we talked about corals and marine life. It was refreshing! Then, the day after, we decided to tackle Castle Hill in thongs. Bad idea but fun and not as hard as I thought it was going to be. All part of the adventure hey? The view was pretty special...


I managed to catch up with another girl I met on Maggie told. That was nice. We swapped posh wine bars for supping goon in the park and chatting about life and money. Very standard Rachel... I have a lot of class right?? 

I know I've moved forward in my life's journey so much. I'm far more confident in myself and my abilities, and I'm not afraid to talk to people I don't know, but at the same time I know full well that this is only the start of the journey.

Raché xX


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