The following thoughts are tidbits that came to me while on vacation this past week in Paris, France. There’s no sort of order to them necessarily, but it’s just commentary on life that I started to think about while having the chance to slow down and relax. My mind finally wasn’t consumed with my work and I had a chance to think about things other than digital marketing… so I hope you enjoy where my mind wandered. Given the randomness of the thoughts, I am organizing this into two volumes where vol. 1 is going to be more centered around Paris and what I learned from being here, and vol. 2 is more centered around some self-reflection that I finally had time to process. Without further delay, here’s vol. 1:

It’s truly inspiring to be walking in the city of some of the best authors of our time. I am so grateful to be sitting here and writing (or I guess, typing) where Fitzgerald and Hemingway penned their own stories. This one’s mine.

Generally, there just seems to be an aura of love everywhere here. I’m not just talking about romantic love with a partner either; although that’s definitely a huge part of the aura. I mean love for their country, their city, themselves. Parisians while coming off as somewhat aggressive seem very happy with themselves and prideful about what being French represents. This confidence seems to boost their overall self-esteem too, as most people I meet are fairly outgoing and unafraid to speak their minds. I think all of us could learn a thing or two about appreciating ourselves and being proud of who we are from witnessing how Parisians hold themselves (at least in public). It’s refreshing.

On top of that, there just seems to be a strong sense of community everywhere here. No matter what street block you look at, you can always find people at their local cafe, bar or restaurant enjoying a drink & a meal together. It doesn’t matter the day of the week, people are spending quality time together everywhere here. I realize that I am seeing such a small sample size of what probably goes on here, but my Airbnb was literally situated above a local bar that had people packed in it from 5-9 pm every single day which was special to see. It also reminds me of New York where the subway makes getting anywhere pretty accessible and fast; something that never happens in LA and is probably a huge reason it takes so much effort to get people together there.

Something else that I have noticed is that people don’t seem to be on their phones as much as we are back in North America. Whether it’s the happy hour crowd, the museum visitors, or someone just hunting for the freshest baguette… most people feel very present in the moment. Again, this is an assumption that I am making but you don’t see people pulling out their phones every two seconds to see if someone new liked their photo. I want to believe that Parisians are having better conversations with each other because of that. They’re tasting more of the flavours of their food even more. The hints of blackberry combined with the aged spices of their red wine are easier to find because they’re appreciating every sip rather than multi-tasking taking a drink, talking to someone, and scrolling social media. Overall, life just seems to be more expressive here.

As for my trip, it’s truly been great for the simple fact that the only work I have done was my choice and not because I felt pressured to do so. Anytime I logged on Slack or replied to an email, I had coworkers ask me why I was working and told me to enjoy my time off… this has never happened in my past roles. I can’t write how much I appreciate that. When you work in startups, your mind gets trained to be “always on” because of how much work has to be done by every individual. This isn’t healthy. I’ve mentioned this before but I will say it again; we are not born to just work, so don’t. Our ‘hustle’ mindset that stems from toxic North American culture has been engrained in a lot of us so much that it’s second nature to answer emails or take calls on vacation despite being on a 9-hour time difference. It’s going to take some work to unwire this type of thinking, but I’m happy to say that it’s in progress at least and this vacation was a great case study of showing myself that I can have a proper work-life balance.

Something else that has been special to me on this trip was the fact that it was the first time in 3 years that I got to spend the holidays with my loved ones. We had a blast celebrating on Christmas Eve, even staying up until almost 5 AM which has never happened before. We exchanged gifts in a secret Santa which went over well, and got to treat our parents to a getaway. We watched the same Christmas movies we’ve seen a million times, but that’s the tradition. It wasn’t about watching the movies themselves, it was the fact that we got to be in the same room and spend time together. I’m so grateful for this.

I’ll close the random thoughts of vol. 1 with some brief commentary on travelling solo. To be candid, it isn’t for everybody. It pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to socialize with new people if you want to fulfil any desire for social interaction. It forces you to manage your own itinerary rather than have someone else plan it for you which means that you are the sole person who can make your trip enjoyable or not. It also forces you to take risks and not know how things are going to turn out just because you have to put yourself out there. Here’s what I can promise you though if you are considering a trip by yourself… it’ll probably work out. There’s places you haven’t been yet, but will feel at home with. There’s activites and things you’ve never done, but will find out you love. There’s people you haven’t met, that will become so important in your life. So do the uncomfortable, be open to whatever a solo trip may bring, and get ready to find a new level of confidence that travelling alone can give you.

Me? I’ve explored the world, made a lot of new friends, have some hilarious stories to tell, and forever will be engrained with the memories of seeing the amazing cultures of this planet on my own terms.