Back

Choose happiness: Always | Day 61 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Mar 2, 2023· 2 minutes

I am always happy. And if I am not exactly happy, I am happy to know I am learning something important.

That is always how it goes.

Yet, it happens, I forget.

We have been sick for a week now. Taking turns to vomit and running for the bathrooms. Each time one of us got better, we truly believed it was over. Only now, after eight days we seem to accept we just have to take it slow, wait and see, and take time to recover.

It has been chaotic. Vomit in the streets, literally while parking in new places. In and out of Airbnb. Lost a lot of sleep.

Had to cancel great adventures.

It is not always Instagramable, the nomad life. It felt like the culmination when we had a flat tire in pouring rain.

But here is the rub. Here is what we are learning.

Here is why I am happy anyway, always happy and grateful.

You see. Within this week of sickness and low energy, we did have the crazy experience of the random place and the running cows on the beach. We also did a beautiful walk to the Venus pool, breathtakingly beautiful. And we observed the volcano Etna, beautiful with snow and steam and clouds.

We also learned, that we can handle even this while on the road with no tears, no fighting - just a steady doing of what needs to be done, solving each problem one by one.

When we had a flat tire, just like always, there were people to help immediately. It was not fun, but it was not too bad either.

It is a question of mindset, again.

Choosing to be happy even in this situation.

When tired, it can be challenging, but I accept the challenge.

It is a good one. 

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad


Thank you for reading

I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our lives like this, and we get very happy when we get feedback from you. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

See more images on Facebook

“There is no way I am leaving England without seeing Stonehenge first,” my youngest child said when we did our planning day in Forest of Bowland a we…Read more
This is the key to football as a religion. The loneliness. Or, more precisely: The human craving for belonging. There has been so much lost in modern…Read more
William Turner is epic. And the exhibition was special. I think we spend two or maybe 3 hours staring at how he describes the ocean, the clouds, the …Read more
We walked the streets, passed the club where the Beatles took their first steps into fame, the whole rock and roll area with live music (of varying q…Read more
Here begins a little bite of the road trip, just the five of us - as planned on our pausing day in Forest of Bowland. Liverpool was on the way to Sto…Read more
We met Annas' family at the castle in Normandie in the spring, and we all got along very well. And it was a pleasure to visit them in Kendal, even th…Read more
We stopped at the most magical and beautiful place to have lunch in the grass by the river under the trees. Literally magical. We crossed the river t…Read more
When our friends went back to Denmark, we decided to rent the lovely house for an extra day just to have some peace and quiet. Since the beginning of…Read more
Not many adults take the time to play. This is too bad. A D&D adventure is a great experience to share with loved ones; any game, any play pretend, a…Read more