A Tale of Two Cities

I'm moving again.  Moving countries, changing visas, swapping out cultures, food, friends, climates, and generally shaking everything up.

The good news is, I've done this before.  I could say I know what I'm doing, but it's more like I know what not to do, how to be graceful, grateful.  

I don't want to hold on
I want to love
everything
everyone
everywhere
and I do

They'll just never be in the same place.
And that's OK.

Leaving Christchurch is bittersweet.   It's not goodbye but see you later, come visit, stay in touch, who knows! I've made friends here, started building a community, and a life. A life that I'm consciously giving up to follow my heart, feel the wind on my face as I ride my scooter through a throng of traffic, eat spicy street food, leaving the security and pure beauty that is New Zealand behind for a freedom the west wasn't built for.

I'm going back to a place that I've lived, where I have friends, community, and generally know my way around.  That's not to say it will be the same.  That's not to say time won't have passed and my friends, community, and very town that I know in Bali won't be different, but I'm different.  Nothing is ever the same.  And that's OK.

Love,

Norma Jean

You can view all of my doodles, with everything I love on my website, Norma Jean Loves

I'm on your team, be on your team with me

They say you're pretty lucky if you can count your good friends on one hand.

Having connected with some great women around the world I consider myself luckier than most.

They're all amazing, capable, beautiful, lovable, empowering human beings, and it is such serendipitous magic that we're in each other's lives.

It's interesting though, as free-spirited, independent women we're all subliminally bombarded with messages, daily, about how we're not enough.

Because we're women, our value as humans is tied to our relationship status, age, demurity, niceness, size, money we have (or don't have) along with countless other irrelevant factors.

While sometimes difficult, it's important to utilize our strength to value ourselves.  In other words, be on your team! That's much easier said than done, and I personally find that it helps to have others on your team with you.

So most importantly, surround yourself with people who love you, so when those moments of doubt inevitably creep in, someone will remind you "I'm on your team, be on your team with me."

It's taken me a long time to even recognize that doubt, let alone be able to turn it off and breathe.  I'm lucky enough to have friends who encourage me to value myself, be on my team.

This is part of why I'm moving back to Bali, and part of why for the first time in my entire life, I made the decision to not take a job in front of me, and value myself more than expectations set before me.

Love,

Norma Jean

You can view all of my doodles, with everything I love on my website, Norma Jean Loves

Finders Keepers

On the road we find ourselves,

and then we find each other.

When we do,

we don't let go.

 

 

Holiday Par-T

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's been nearly 4 years since I arrived here,

all alone. A one woman play on an empty stage.

Not even my Harri-bou-bou to keep me company.

Now, my drama is filled with a cast of characters

that spans the globe.

Thank you to everyone,

for making this a very Merry Christmas.

Family Thanksgiving

Can it be?

Three years of thankful celebrations

with the Anjung family?

A great gift of being kidnapped to Anjung

all those years ago, has been the stable community

of friendship and support.

In life, that's the best think you can have

and what I am most thankful for year-in-year-out.

This year there was even a baby added to the clan!

Autumn in Pyeongtaek

This is what it's like,

to live in the Pyeongtaek countryside

in the fall.

Basically, it's pretty damn beautiful.