London/ The Beginning
Lush green fields and tiny cottages gave way to concrete and housing estates as the train neared central London. The sky was overcast and the soft dim light flattened out the horizon so everything out my window took on a painterly quality. The same questions I thought about when I landed in Tokyo came to me again. What would London teach me? How would I grow here? Who was I going to meet? However, unlike Tokyo, I had much less anxiety over them. I was more willing to cede to the Universe and trust that things would work out in the end.
I transferred to the Victoria line and made my way to Brixton to stay with some friends. Part of what would make London a different experience was the community that I had built into the landscape of the city. The only thing I had to search for was housing and so my first 5 days were spent shuttling from South London to East London to attend roommate interviews. During those brief interactions, I could feel the potential in every living space. While Tokyo was a journey inward I could tell that London would be the beginnings of a more external journey.
The place I fell in love with was an artist warehouse near Seven Sisters tube station. Despite the lack of good ventilation and two bathrooms for 10 people, I was sold on the idea of living in an artist community. It was all I dreamed about and the chance that it might have come true was something that I wasn't going to give up. Sadly at the last minute, my housing fell through and I scrambled to find a last minute place. I reached out to the very first place that I looked at and by the grace of God was able to secure the room.
As I settled into my new routine in London I realized that I was way to hard on myself about my time in Japan. I thought it was an all or nothing event. That my first time living abroad on my own had to be perfect or it would be a complete failure. What I didn't realize until a couple weeks into my time in London was that Japan was just the first stop of many. The knowledge I would gain from all those events and experiences would compound over time to make me the best version of myself that I could be.
Make sure you subscribe below and never miss an addition to the Archive!
