Have you ever dwelled so much about the past that if you hadn’t done this, you wouldn’t have gone through this, and then things wouldn’t be this bad? We often have these kinds of thoughts when life directions are going for the worse. It’s a depleting time where you regret the past and your doings.

But life is funny like that because when things are good, you can also look back and think of the exact same ie if you hadn’t done that, you wouldn’t have gone through that, and then things wouldn’t be that good! And yet you call this 'a blessing in disguise'.

Normally I choose not to talk about the more negative aspects of my past journey in life through this blog because this space is essentially reserved for my thoughts of Paris and daily adventures as well as the travels I’ve done after having dreamt about them for so long and also my encouragement to you for your own dreams and hopes in the future.

But after receiving a few emails containing “you are so lucky…” and “how I wish…”, I think it’s time to mention that huge sacrifices, deep uncertainties, negativities, fears and worries have made recurrent guest stars in my life. Yes indeed I feel so lucky and blessed to have been able to make my dream of living in Paris come true but getting to Paris had been the result of hard work. It was never as simple as “packing my bag and board a plane”.

I know from the pictures and stories on this blog, it seems that my life in Paris is wonderful but that is because I chose to extract the positives and down-play the negatives. Looking back into my journey, not everything had been “la vie en rose”. My trail had been quite the rollercoaster ride and in fact, for a huge chunk of my life, there had been more downs than ups. So when I look back to all the hurtful and regretful moments that I’d rather forget, I still have to recognize that they are parts of what shapes my present and future.

So I’d like to remind you, whenever you think you’re in the midst of the worst case scenario, it is always up to you to think that it will get better. Lift your chin and cheer yourself up. Keep focusing on your dreams and what lies ahead. In time, everything will fall into place and one day, when you look back into your trail, you will finally understand why.

I was deep in thoughts during one of my evening walks thinking "Paris isn't only about crêpes and carousels..!" but when I looked to my right, I see this and a crêpes stand near it. Talk about the irony!