The generation, that when faced with loss, tragedy or loneliness, simply buys a ticket and starts again, seeking out a brighter future than the past we leave behind.

Not long ago, my friend broke up with her long term boyfriend. A few weeks later she left for Europe, announcing it to the world over social media with a beautiful photo of her and her golden ticket, and the hashtags #newbeginnings #dontlookback

I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly been a loyal chaser of the light in the last 12 months. How beautiful is it, knowing better things are coming, that the hurt and the suffering and whatever haunts your past is somewhere over your shoulder, shrinking with the setting sun.

Hope for the future is most certainly a beautiful and powerful thing. As is starting over and new beginnings….as long as we aren’t running from the past. The past will always be there. We cant run from it, escape it, or hide from it. And no matter what has happened in your past; lost ones, abuse, sexual assault, breakups, injury, mistakes…every single minute of your past, good or bad, has forged you into the person you are today.

There is absolutely opportunity to mourn, hurt, cry, break, fall apart. To look up, pick yourself, up and take a bold and brilliant step forward. Then to accept the past, to acknowledge what you have learnt, how you’ve grown, where you’re stronger. Move forward with strength and purpose.

But to buy a ticket and run away. To push down emotions, to be too angry or afraid to look back and learn. We are the generation that runs, in search of the holy grail. We search continents high and low, seemingly more and more entangled, intertwined, infatuated in the promising and enticing dance offered by the ever elusive hand of wanderlust.

You’re only given one book in this life, one story to write. You can’t tear out the last pages, erase the writing or burn the book. Those pages are written in stone. You can, however, turn the page, start a new chapter. From here you can write the story however you want; travel, chase, explore, dream, hope, imagine..and when you’re ready, when you’re strong enough, you can open the dusty cover to the first page, read all the things of that past that created the beautiful person you are today.