(UPDATE: This post was written in January 2013. Although this was painful then, my life has moved forward in some remarkable ways. As I always try to remember; if you are happy with where you are, be grateful in some way for the road, however bumpy, that got you there.)

Jonathan Traveling in Bhutan

Over the last six months, I have been somewhat slack in doing updates on this site. It’s not that there haven’t been things to share, but some of them have been too personal, too distracting, too painful, or in some cases all of the above, to communicate without the perspective that comes with time and the luxury of reflection.

I began this journey in 2011 with a partner who was my wife. We intended to create a life based on experiences and learn about ourselves and this tiny planet we call home. After almost two years of travel, my biggest lesson, among the others, has been a continuing one: relationships are complicated, and it is important to know yourself before you can know the world. Sometimes dreams, even when you attain them, do not match up with expectations.  Sometimes people expect life to be only a confirmation of their hopes and are disappointed when it is not so. Sometimes people, like I try to do, approach life without expectations and take comfort in making discoveries along the way. Sometimes people simply change their mind about who they are and who they want to be with and want to change the path they are on. The only constant in life is change and happiness comes when we learn to accept and embrace that.

See also:

• Seeing America Through New Eyes
• Taking a Leap of Faith
• Looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places

However you look at it, life, like happiness, is a series of choices and in February 2012 my wife decided to take a path different from the one we began together. A breakup is never a happy circumstance, but it is life, and if you allow it, even in pain there can be learning and understanding. I want to thank her for the good times and wish her much happiness and success in her new endeavors. She is a talented and capable person even though she decided she wanted something different my life is better for having known her.

Things may seem a little random around here while I get caught up. There are a lot of things I want to cover, but given the break, the chronology will be a bit confused. Thank you for indulging me, forgive the interruption, and now I will get back to telling my story of living and loving LifePart2.

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