Life Is Short, Have a Love Affair

On embracing some main character energy abroad.

Is there anything better than kissing a stranger in the rain on the cobblestone streets of Amsterdam?

For context, I’ve been feeling like I’m caught in a whirlwind of life recently, balancing some of the biggest, weirdest, happiest, and most devastating emotions I’ve ever encountered. My mind is constantly humming along at one hundred miles per hour as I precariously balance all the things I have to do, should do, want to do, and would give anything to avoid but cannot. Much of it is new and unexplored territory, especially at this age when I feel more confident and comfortable in the truest version of myself. So when some work travel brought me to Europe last week, I decided to extend the trip an extra day and take a glorious afternoon and evening off to explore. It felt like the perfect opportunity to soak in all that delicious main character energy you can tap into when you’re in a new city just living your damn life on a minute to minute basis.

Becoming one with Holland’s legendary tulips

As it so happened, I also changed my Hinge location to Amsterdam the day before, just to see where it could lead. See above: kissing a stranger on the street at midnight, in the rain, next to a canal with a bunch of twinkly lights draped in the trees. A complete and total cheese-fest, I will admit.

But that was just the start of my European love affair.