Awake

Ever notice how being in a new place can awaken your senses?

Whether it’s at a friend’s house, another city, or another country, the unfamiliarity of it all heightens the senses. There are so many new and different sights, sounds, tastes and smells that stimulate in new ways, but those senses can grow dull from the familiar – the type of food you usually cook for dinner, the way your laundry detergent smells, the way you notice immediately if someone else moves an object in your home.

Being here in Bali – my very first time anywhere in Asia – has turned all of my senses on full-force. I’m noticing things both unfamiliar (because of COURSE they are) and familiar (who knew they’d have Hunt’s canned tomatoes in the supermarket?!). A friend who moved to India said her first little while there, she was constantly exhausted from her senses being in overdrive all the time – I can totally relate, and I haven’t even made it to India yet!

My first full day in Ubud, I had coffee with my next door neighbor at the guesthouse, and over the few hours we sat and talked, it was an incredible sensory experience. The smell of garlic and onions sizzling in a hot pan – even at 8 o’clock in the morning. The sweet taste of Balinese coffee with coconut sugar and milk (but mind the grounds in the bottom of the cup!). Cinnamon-scented incense burning at a nearby temple. Boys next door playing drums and flutes in celebration of a Hindu holiday. Every few steps through the neighborhood, a new fragrance. Down the street, monkeys EVERYWHERE (and, um… their “fragrance,” too).

The newness of everything has forced my tastebuds, nose, eyes, ears, and mind to open. It’s exciting, enlightening, and frightening all at the same time. Being out of my comfort zone is intimidating – but it’s where the growth happens. And I’m ready for it. I’m awake.