It’s been a while since I last wrote here. Not that I didn’t want to. I just didn’t take time for it.
The last year has passed by like a blink of an eye. I have kept myself busy building a new internet bank for DNB and a new home for myself. Both turned out rather well, if I may say so… now that they are (more or less) finished.
Whoever has had similar projects in their life at the same time knows that it doesn’t leave much room for anything else. Even for the stuff you would like to do but cannot bring yourself to take up after another long day with your fake friend, the computer.
Take running, for example
After training for 5 months for Frankfurt marathon last year, I got some sort of neuritis in my back just 1 week before the event. What a pointless effort it all seemed at that moment, having done so much work only to find out that I cannot run at all. I had trained too much and my body had gone on strike.
I tried to assure myself that the effort counts more than the end result but it didn’t really seem that good of a consolation at that point. I guess you cannot run long distances with a lot of “baggage” on your shoulders. It took me months to enjoy running again and, truth be told, I’m still coping with lack of motivation.
So, despite my successful 3rd marathon and after everything I seemed to have learnt back then, it seems that running is really a journey like any other. The road keeps on winding and you never know what you’ll come across after the next curve. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, life says “think again”.
Going to “the real Africa”
After staggering efforts on the home-work-marathon front, I rewarded myself with a 1 month trip to East Africa in the end of last year, fulfilling my long-term dream to see “the real Africa”.
Having backpacked through Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, I witnessed the incredible nature and history that these regions had to offer but also the indescribable poverty that at times made me feel so empty and sad that I couldn’t even bring myself to write about it.
Well, isn’t it a privilege to face the hardships that millions of people face every day only for a brief moment and come back home to say what a challenge your trip had been? I’ve seen it before but Africa is somehow different. I cannot exactly pinpoint how, just that it is.
Then again seeing a baby mountain gorilla jump around a 200 kg silverback made me feel hopeful again. It was strangely overwhelming to see these gentle giants in their natural habitat in the mountains of Central Africa, tracing a bit of humanity in their movements and lively brown eyes.
Taking time for it
The above-mentioned emotional barrier that I experienced on the road in Africa is probably the main reason why I’ve only just (after 6 months) started to scan through the photos and videos I made in Africa.
But it may also be that the selecting and editing has never been my favourite part of photography. I wish I had a personal assistant for that sort of job and I could just focus on taking photos. Something to remember if I should ever get rich and famous for any reason…
Not to overgeneralise but it seems that many of us forget to take time for things that we really enjoy and end up coming to the epiphany that it’s been a while since we last did that something we like. Even if we’ve had clarifying, eye-opening moments before, the power of everyday life and habit tends to take over.
Actually, I guess you’re lucky if you realise it at all, since we could easily continue on this conveyor line until we’re old. The only way is to make a U-turn and simply start by taking time and dropping excuses.
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I will try and write again before another year has passed by unnoticed. In the meantime I rebuilt marisheinaru.com as a photo gallery and brought all my texts under blog.marisheinaru.com. That’s a start, I guess.