What I Learned in Nosara, Costa Rica

 

7 weeks ago I resigned from my job in advertising to embark on a personal journey in Nosara, Costa Rica. I bought a one way ticket with no hard deadline of coming back. This trip was meant to primarily serve as a vehicle for decompression, since I had been working a lot for the past few years. In the back of my mind, I secretly wished the trip would provide inspiration as to what to do next (professionally and personally). And I actually think I figured it all out, so now it’s just a matter of time before it’s manifested into reality.

Outside of that, I think I learned a few other things that others may find useful. Below are the top 5 things I learned in Nosara, Costa Rica.

1. Life is short, live it well

This means try to do everything in your power to cultivate as much happiness as you can. This does not mean to try to control external sources to achieve happiness. Rather, cultivate a framework for happiness within yourself. For me, this included surfing, working out, and painting. For someone else, it could be horseback riding, dancing, or cooking. Find those things you love to do and squeeze as much joy out of them as possible because the life you own is only available for a limited time.

2. There is no better time than the present

Just do it, don’t overthink it. We humans are quite good at overcomplicating things. We can always think of reasons for not taking a specific course of action. Usually, the perfectionist perspective is the culprit. This voice insists that a decision should not be made unless all the foreseeable outcomes are favorable. The stars in life rarely ever all align. Therefore, there are instances where one has to just do it and learn as they go. This can be scary, but it’s way more beneficial than succumbing to analysis paralysis and never taking action.

3. Working on yourself is a full-time job

Often times we may get distracted from living our lives due to hectic schedules or overcommitments. But when this haphazard way of living negatively impacts our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being we have to halt and demand a higher standard of living. The problem is that cultivating and caring after the spheres of one’s well-being requires a lot of effort and time. One can easily spend all day maintaining this environment, from exercising in the morning to reading throughout the day to volunteering in the evening. Since it is difficult to live this way, we can still create smaller routines of self-care by including bit-sized portions of those larger actions. Every single one of us is worth this time and effort.

4. It takes a village…

Community is very important. It’s the human reverb to our life’s music. Community provides the platform for us to heal, live, and love together. Modern day times (especially profound among dense urban settings) have encouraged us to be selfish and isolationists. We’re taught to compete with each other instead of working with each other. In the words of Fela Kuti, “we have more to learn from building than destroying” and so we should seek to work together for the benefit of the community instead of fighting with and against one another.

5. Live in the moment, by any means necessary

It’s very easy for us to live life in the echoes of yesterday or the grip of tomorrow. This moment is all we actually have though. So we need to cultivate the ability to stay present in the moment. Photography was something I discovered and helped me do just that. By photographing moments and people, the lens became my direct link to the present. Nothing else mattered at that moment other than what was on the other end of that lens. This new creative platform allowed me to see things from a different perspective and reinforced what a glorious gift it is to see and have vision. So find whatever is that makes you radically linked to present and wield that force unforgivingly.