Distance doesn’t matter

Distance doesn’t’ matter. As long as there is a connection it’s completely irrelevant how far you’re away. This can be transferred to different areas of your life. Right now I’m doing an internship in Munich which means I’m 650km away from home which is basically only a short hop compared to the rest of the world. But as I said distance doesn’t matter and in this blog post I’m going to tell you why.

The first important lesson to learn is to feel comfortable with your own

You have to know who you are, know your soul, know what you like and dislike and just be comfortable with your own presence. Getting to know you is a process and it can’t be done in one second. It’s a long way – call it a journey – and probably you will get to know you even better when you’re traveling alone. It can also be doing something on your own like going to a café, strolling through the city or going for a walk in the park. If you really like and love yourself, you will never be alone again.

The next step is to become aware that “distance” is just a word made by a human’s brain. You can see distance in the form of a map for example. When you draw a line from your hometown to your current place, distance becomes graspable. Some are frightened, some are joyful. But in the end it’s just two places that can be reached by car, ship or plane. Sometimes we don’t even realize or are conscious about in which part of the world we are right know. At least that’s what I felt when I was in California. Once you’re there you instantly forget the 13 hours flight and just dip into the new culture. I swear that I had to look several times at a globe or map to really realize that I’m at America’s west coast at the moment.

Everyone is different and you can’t compare your chapter one to someone else’s chapter twenty. Some people are more sensitive when it comes to living on their own for the first time, others are only 18 when they tour the world all alone.
It was my decision to spend three months away from home and I’m thankful I have stuck to it. I have always wanted to go either to Munich or Barcelona, and since I got accepted to work in Bavaria’s capital and not Barcelona, I’m spending my time here. You always have to trust the process that you’re on the right track and everything that happens is supposed to be that way.

I have to admit that since I’m here I haven’t been homesick once (which I’m proud of). Maybe it’s because I had the right mind set and expected my time here to be good. Maybe it’s because that’s what I needed the most. To breathe fresh air, to spend some time alone, to distance myself from the atmosphere I’m used to, to step out of my comfort zone, to get a clearer view of what I want in life and to make new memories. I think all these factors played a big role and led me to the state of being I’m currently in.

I also realized that once you’re gone and made the step to leave your home, once you arrived at the place you will call home for the next couple of time, you will realize that it really doesn’t matter if you’re 650 km far away from home, or 1000 or 4000. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. If you know that you won’t see your family for a month (or longer), it doesn’t matter if you’re in Munich, Rome, Cape Town or even Australia. So don’t be afraid to move further, to visit places more far away, to go beyond.

Going away brings you clarity

As I said you get to know yourself better. Who you are and your goals. But not only that. You also know which of your people will stay with you. You will see some people fading away, their light dims over time. It’s your choice and decision if you will accept the darkness or try to make it shine again. But what you have to know is that it needs two sides to build a bridge. Maybe it’s just a phase (I mean there are moon phases in which you can’t see the moon and there are times when it shines so bright you almost have to blink) but maybe it’s the “reality”. Maybe it’s a proof that you only care about each other when you’re not far away.

Then there are people who support and stay with you no matter how far away you are. It’s not the motto “out of sight, out of mind”. You write them more than once in a week, you keep in touch everyday, you share your feelings with them, your thoughts. You can count on them and they can count on you. Stick to them and never let them go because they’re the real ones. Your vibe attracts your tribe. And then distance doesn’t matter. It might not be easy forever but it will work out at least when both want it. Shoutout to those people – I’m thankful to have you in my life.