one great big party

about a year ago I met a man from argentina named manu.  our lives crossed for less than a week, but in those few days I saw in him the man I wanted to be. wherever he went, whatever he did, however he spoke, everything came from a place of love. he had a contagious laugh, that despite any language difference would make an entire hostal roar in laughter.

by all objective standards the man was broke.  he gave up his successful dream as owner of a hostal to travel the world, work odd seasonal jobs, live in a buddhist monastery, and walk the camino de santiago.  In other words, the man was a complete wacko.

on our last day together, i wanted to dig a bit deeper.  i asked manu how he lives so spontaneously without a plan.  

“each of us swim within a river,” he said, “sometimes our rivers cross with other rivers on our journey downstream.  there is no sense in trying to change direction or cling to the shore. because in the end, each of our rivers go to the same grand ocean. and in that final body of water, we’ll have one great big party all together.”

maybe calling life a river is a bit cliché when you read it 1000 times on motivational instagram posts.  but hearing these words from a man so clearly living authentically through his words was the exact direction i needed to take a hard look at myself, take responsibility, and care deeper for those around me.