
It as a very special moment. I had a job offer on the table from a bank but between having a formal chat and them coming back to me I made my decision. Now I can be grateful for their undecisiveness or beaurocracy, whatever that is. Imagine if I hadn't had time to think!
My aforementioned surprise quickly vanishes when I reminisce everything that happened in Nepal. Mostly all the wonderful people I met and how those people made me feel. Despite knowing that I was only in Nepal for two weeks and that such feeling can't be sustained indefinitely I thought there was nothing wrong in trying to pursue it. It turned out to be the right decision as I found much more along the way. More about people, the planet, environment, animals, and most importantly - myself.

I am one of those people that take an enormous pleasure from packing. Weird right? Well, I can't imagine who wouldn't?! Packing is not only strategical and logical game of fitting things you want and need into the smallest area possible but also makes the fact of you going away real. It took me few weeks, months even, to pack up my life in the UK and send it in a van to Poland. Most of my clothes I gave away anyway and lately I did the same in Poland.
Some might think that my trip has ended since I came back to the UK. Nothing could be further from the truth! I consider London my next stop, a little longer perhaps but still a stop. Everything I learned in the past two years has led me to live and think differently. Last year I wrote about the times of firsts but this year I want to share with you all the learnings I have been taking from my travelling.
We are not alone
Sounds obvious, right? Bear with me. I am now a firm believer that we as a species are predisposed to being lazy and self-centric. We live in silos created by administrations because even 100 years ago it wasn't possible to look beyond our own courtyard. Now, in the age of internet and fast planes, we have an ocean of knowledge about the world out there but somehow we rarely use it in a meaningful way. Our decisions, however small and local might seem, have in fact a lot of power. The laws of multiplication are often forgotten when we live our daily lives. But even a small decision made by 1 mln people like you has a tremendous effect globally. We always think if "I" do this and that but in reality it's I times "a lot".
Having met people from so many different countries, backgrounds, and with so many histories, especially local people, you can see how so called advancement can affect their lives in the long run. Whether it be pollution or even the embrace of a life that actually doesn't bring any value. The transference is real despite thousands of miles between different people. Whatever I do now, I always look at it from the outside and take a big picture into consideration.

There is no plan(et) B
Every time a major shift in my thinking happens I take my stupid head and bang it against the wall questioning how could I think differently. That applies to religion, veganism, or consumerism. I think it hit me in Honduras. There, in the small village I lived in, water was sold in small (300ml) plastic bags. You buy them, rip off the corner, drink, and... throw it away wherever you are. I remember the football putch filled with those bags and my heart cried. Thankfully that village and Honduras in general are changing things as we speak (#nobolsasporfavor) but it made me think very carefully about all the packaging I have been buying.
From that moment my way of life became filled with conscious deliberation of how my choices can affect the wider world. Postively or negatively. Every single plastic bag to which I could say no, every piece of clothing I wouldn't need, all those things usddenly became essential to me. By 2025 there will have been more than 8 billion people in the world and the planet is not getting any bigger. Without us making decisions based on not what WE need at that time but what the world needs we can be in a lot of problems pretty soon. Actually we already are.
The planet is such a fragile place and I wish I had an opportunity to find out about it earlier in my life. But, as my dance teacher used to say, it is never too late to start and now I firmly embraced this kind of thinking.
Living in London is paralysing but at the same time I have more freedom to make the right choices. Being able to research brands before I buy something without worrying if something is 50p more expensive is convenient and I consider it a luxury but I still preserve my core values.