As the sun sets lower in the sky, and the shadows of the trees on the ground stretch to see the last of its light, so we celebrate the end of a long and tiring week, soaking up the last of the day.

There is jazz playing from a show further in the park, and people chatting and laughing fill the rest of the air. Grafton’s buskers’ tunes float towards. Different languages pass you by, mixed with the songs of birds and the gentle rustle of their feathers in the small lake nearby. Even the passing traffic’s invasiveness is swallowed by the tall green trees surrounding us.

The 400-year-old park, that holds so much of Dublin’s history, now holds yours too. For whatever reason you came to the 27-acre cut-out of the city – whether it’s to read or picnic or paint with your friends. Whether it’s to think about your problems or escape from them. St. Stephen’s Green offers you a bit of “fresh air” from the stale air of work and the hyperventilating of life. Here, you are given an opportunity to grasp the peace that’s calling to you. And ask yourself: maybe if we spent more time just ‘being’, we wouldn’t feel the need to ‘be’ something all the time.

Yesterday was supposed to mark our last day working in Swords but the promise of our work transfer has been delayed. So what we thought was an 8 day push of exhausting ourselves with 4 hours of travel a day, has been extended another 3 weeks.
I wouldn’t mind the travel as much if I didn’t suffer so much from motion illness.

I have been trying to use the time to think.

Think about what, I’m not too sure. I usually circle back to “What am I doing with my life?” And “what should I be doing with my life?” Unfortunately, that’s left me with a small case of the morbs – wondering why I wasted 4 years of my life to get a degree I now know I won’t use, and wishing I’d just stuck with something (anything) for long enough for it to show me fruition.

Ken and I have decided that there is no better time to change everything in your life, than when everything in your life changes. Embrace the chaos – then find your footing in calmer waters. So we’re both on the hunt for new jobs. “Real jobs” as we South Africans call it – but the Irish keep reminding us that “any job is a real job” and that’s the beauty of a first-world, liveable-wage country.

It’s just time to focus myself on what I want to live for. Instead of floating aimlessly – I want to float on the currents that at least align with my passions.

So I’m writing again.
Straight from the heart of the city that inspired all this in the first place (even if I did lose sight of that for some time).

Thanks for reading, dear Traveler,
With love from Dublin,
Cheylin.