This morning I decided to set out on an adventure alone.
I packed my camera and tripod,
poured myself some hot tea in a thermos mug,
and drove to a nearby village, in a secluded place somewhere in the countryside.
It was frosty this morning,
and temperature in our corner of England began dropping below zero at night.
I'm scared of walking alone in the dark just a little bit,
so I have to brave myself for both the cold weather
and darkness of the early winter morning.
But more than anything, I wanted the reward which followed very shortly.
Most beautiful golden sunrise and November frost glistening on the ground.
There are many beautiful fields, meadows and woodlands surrounding the area I live in.
I've explored many trails already,
but to get to the most secluded ones, I have to rely on my car.
It's not the most ideal of the situations,
as driving is something I learned how to do very recently.
But despite the scary and potentially dangerous aspect of it,
I like to imagine all sorts of adventures
and stories in my head every time I go for the drive.
This time I drove through narrow and rough roads to get to my destination.
Secluded roads, with not a soul around.
I took the liberty of going as fast as it felt safe to me at that moment,
and I might have yelled out of happiness a few times
going down the hills and witnessing the fog build up in the fields around me.
In fact, I am someone who gets scared easily.
I was a highly impressionable and overly sensitive child,
and I believe I developed a lot of fears during that time,
which still linger to this day.
But whilst being highly sensitive comes with some negative aspects,
with that also comes an ability to fantasize,
dream and escape into the fairytale world, which perhaps wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
I tried to be a realist and view the world through a more pragmatic lens before.
but I then found my attention being focused too much on the negative aspects of our reality.
With the news constantly overfilling our brains
with negative imagery and scary stories,
I tend to dive deeper into fears and anxieties of the uncertain future.
Of course I'm not saying that staying out of touch with reality is the way to go.
It's important to know and understand the happenings of the world.
But when your empathy and sensitivity levels have to boundaries,
it's too easy to lose yourself completely in the unsteady side of life.
Besides, we sometimes think of dreams as far too unrealistic,
however every and each one of us experiences the dream world
every time we close our eyes at night.
Isn't it also a part of life?
My world expands each time I set out on a journey
seeking beauty all around.
I thought long and hard what is it I want to do with my life,
how can I be useful, or successful in what I do,
and I tried to follow what's popular and do the things which work
but are dictated by algorithms and trends.
I never enjoyed that as much as I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now.
My camera is the means to share my stories with you,
to show the world around which can be beautiful and real at the same time.
The world of fantasy which exists all around,
but sometimes we have look further to see it.
Perhaps, yes, I don't show you the mundane.
I tend to put a prism of fairytale on everything I do,
when frankly, most of my days are indeed filled with mundane
and routine tasks which are nothing close to magical.
These little worlds I create for myself
and maybe other kindred spirits somewhere out there,
are the way of escapism for someone who also seeks a little more magic.
The sort of escapism that simply broadens the horisons of life,
adding a little extra colour and fairytale to the reality that is our life.
Every moment we are faced with the choice -
what sort of world we want to carry on living in.
We can't worry ourselves into stability, or hate ourselves into love.
We can't make our lives magical only by focusing on life's faults.
What we choose to see, to think about, to do with our time
that's what we become.
Being aware of the flaws or difficulties our world comes with is also important.
But it's our choice to make
whether that's what we want to allow into our lives more often.
When you allow magic in your life, more magic starts to happen.
I set out on a journey a few mornings in a row
opening gates into new pastures, meadows and rivers.
Watching the sun rise through the branches of a barren tree,
Breathing in the cold air and seeing fog build up on the water.
This morning I wished I slept a little longer.
I wanted to crawl back into bed
and continue seeing dreams inside the subconscious of my mind.
But if I stayed there, I wouldn't have known that dreams exist all around me.
I would''ve missed the fog and the golden sunrise peeking through the trees.
I wouldn't have heard tens and hundreds
voices of birds echo through the fields.
I wouldn't have ever talked to cows,
and occasional hikers with their dogs
all curious about what I was doing there
dressed so weather inaproppriately,
so early in the morning with my camera and tripod
in the middle of the secluded path.
We have all witnessed the same magic this morning,
and brought it back with us in our memories.
That is simply the kind of magic I want to share with you
as often as I can.