A New Life in an Old World

Nearing exactly one month since my return from my academic yearlong study in Italy, the perspective of life in which I hold now when compared to that of which I withheld before leaving is indeed profoundly different.
Truly, in the time before departing, my mind, body, and soul desired only nothing but to leave the perceived "chaos" and "hardship" I was involved within; be it my work, my school, or even my own home, the people in which were my day-to-day associates began to draw a heavy pull on my whole self. A yearning to simply "get away" grew all the more until its relief once the day in turn came.

After all that transpired abroad in my experiences and undertakings, I find all of my behavior of past as both incredulous and pitiful.

My readings into Stoicism and classical works and teachings by Stoics (such as Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, and others) has given me a much more clear perception of the current standing of my life. I now look upon the troubles that were of my past as being absolutely made as impactful as they becasue I made them so. And as such, all of the same realities of my life before studying abroad are still here, still functioning as they were before, and still an intricate part of my overall livelihood.

But they do not bare any negative prospects anymore. I am actually more than anything grateful for their association to myself, all of which are essential parts of the whole shaping and crafting of my inner self. I shall strive always to continue withholding this conceptualization to all facets of my life both in the next present state and the proceeding future.