I took this photo while exploring the castle overlooking Assisi in Italy, which I mentioned a few posts ago. (Great post, 9/10 would recommend) I grew up clinging to that yearn for a dash of fantasy in my pitifully mundane life. People call that a child's imagination, but I think that is a shallow way of thinking. Life should be exciting, and I think happiness revolves around what you place importance in.
For me, two of the most important things have always been curiosity and creativity. I search for moments where I am just filled with wonder. This is why my name is "wonderlust" instead of the more common "wanderlust". I've always internalized it as seeking those moments of awe rather than wandering place to place. Though wandering is gratifying as well.
I had been waiting my whole life to see a real life castle. I didn't mind that it was a small one, and, as was my issue most of the trip, we did not spend nearly enough time in it. I'm the kind of traveler who wants to take in the energy of the place--to try and feel what it would have been like to walk the halls. I hate rushing through places.
All I wanted to do when I saw this window was to sit and stare out it. I wanted to place my back against the stone bricks and gaze at the rolling hills. I really am a sucker for mountains. I didn't want to be some hypothetical princess in a tower. I am a historian after all. I wanted to be just an average person watching the town a few hundred years ago, if only for a moment.
Instead I was ushered on by the fear that if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to see the rest of the building. People walked so fast, glancing at things with nothing more than a "wow that's cool". I can't blame them. I know I am the weird one in this scenario, escaping into my own private traveling headspace, feeling deeply and aching to close my eyes and meditate. What if this, what if that. Historian's curiosity is a curse, sometimes, but it isn't nearly as taxing as a creative's curiosity. Any advice for someone who has both?
What do you think about when looking out a window? Do you have a favorite window watching moment? Tell me your story in the comments!
Adventure on and don't forget to be yourself!
Leah Miller
Can't say I have a favorite window watching moment, but if I ever get a chance to look out a window while riding in a car at sunset, I like to listen to music and recall the happiest moments of my life. Can't say I've had a chance to so that lately, but it's always so calming and self-assuring that I'm making the right decisions in my life.