on italy…
| i write this during hour 56 of travel back from italy - after spending a little less than a month in the piedmont region of italy the prospect of going back to the states is less and less enticing the more i think about it - i came to really enjoy my time, my pace of life, my lack of responsibility - everything seemed slower, while the days seemed quicker, i can easily my life flash away there - the pace of life is different; the extent of which people are expected to work is less rigorous; the way the state treats and honors its workers through retirement and health benefits - its all rather intoxicating and i feel sad having to leave it |
| i suppose that is why it is considered vacation, though i guarantee had i just visited as a tourist i would not have had those same experiences - no, instead, in italy i found a perspective shift; a breath of fresh air that i have never felt in my life if i’m being quite honest - even considering that i have never had a vacation with this much freedom of time and budget, it goes much deeper than that - i finally experienced a country that thinks about life in a totally different light - a country placing its value on comfort, family, enjoyment and entertainment of small trivial things, and so much more - instead i return to a life of production; constant, consistent, trivial growth, and once again burying myself in work so as not to feel guilt or shame for not having produced |
| i find myself returning to work with less than a weekend to catch up from 68 hours of travel - less than a month to find and secure housing, in an overpriced city - less than a year to prove to myself that I can make something out of my music training, that i can do something relevant and meaningful to myself while also helping support a household in one of the most expensive cities in the pacific northwest - i know i can - i’m not afraid of failure, just tired of the attitude of a society that doesn’t take the time to value the work it produces - i miss italy… |
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