I'm Nothing Special, I'm Just Another Guy With an Average Story

Back in my home country, among my friends and family, some people might see me as if I was somebody special because I'm the guy who did it, who gave up a really good life in order to follow his dreams. Perhaps, and most likely, many others see me as an immature guy who instead of pursuing an MBA, instead of getting married, settling down and building a future and a family decided to backpack in India for no good reason.

Regardless of their views and opinions one thing is for sure, I didn't stick to the norm. Back there I felt like the black sheep, living in two worlds, the "normal external world" where everybody knew me and where I apparently belonged to, and my "secret inner world," the world that just a few had access to.

But here in India, and in some neighboring countries, I discovered that I am nothing special, I am just another guy with an average story. Here I am just one among many and I don't mean this in a negative way. Here I am normal, here I fit in. This is the land where "I've quit my job to follow my dreams, to be authentic and truthful to myself" is the norm among foreign seekers. Here we have discovered that we can definitely have more than one life in one life.

In this land, seekers from all around the world meet to share their unique stories, their unique paths, to form a new family of brothers and sisters where we can understand each other and with whom we can share our new discoveries and adventures, our new successes and failures. Here we are not the black sheep anymore, here the white sheep have become the black sheep.

"Where is your home? I don't have a home." "Where do you live? Today I live here." "What's your plan? For today maybe... tomorrow who knows." "Did you buy a roundtrip ticket? One way ticket it's the only way to go." That's a usual conversation among these seekers.

A few days ago I met up for lunch with some of my Mysore friends at the Swami Dayananda Ashram in Rishikesh. As we were discussing our possible future plans we realized that it's difficult for us to decide where to go or what to do next, not because we don't know what to do but because we see a world that offers unlimited possibilities, a world of abundance in every single way where the most difficult thing is just to make a choice.

Thinking about where I could go next or what I could do makes me so excited that I need to sit down and take a deep breath to calm myself down. Yes, this is a wonderful place to be, and I feel very grateful and happy to be part of this world. I know that anything can happen at anytime, the only constant thing in life is change, so all I can do is surrender, trust that everything will be all right and continue listening to my heart to follow my path.

But all this doesn't mean that we are denying our roots, our home countries, our families or our old friends who actually help us to stay grounded. On the contrary, we are in a process of self discovery and growth where we are slowly but surely removing the layers and layers of false believes and misconceptions that have been limiting us in the past, to become more of who we really are with the inevitable outcome that we end up creating stronger and healthier relationships with those whom we love the most.