Venice, Italy. I hadn’t planned to have five open days in Europe, and to be very honest, I wasn’t excited about it. The plans I had for this time had fallen through, leaving me heavy-hearted with the time on my hands. Traveling solo sounded more daunting than exciting, but Italy had been on the bucket list and something told me the magical country wouldn’t let me regret it. I booked flights on a Wednesday and was stepping off the train in Venice six days later.

The city actually sparkles. The glimmer of the water, the gondolas, the glint in the eyes of the people… it was breathtaking in all its whimsy and technicolor. You couldn’t walk more than 50 feet without meeting a turquoise canal lined with stone walls, adorned with colorful flower boxes. The whole city is artwork. 
(I was lucky to be there mere days before the flooding, and I am sending my love to the city as it heals and repairs.) 

I decided to (mostly) stay off social media for the trip, and tried to keep my focus as present as possible. (More on the benefits of practical mindfulness in my last post here.) Ironically, it was this distraction-free presence that lead to a look into my past, and ultimately became the major gift of the trip.   

As I mosied the Venetian streets, licking pistachio gelato from my fingers, I was struck with my “holy sh*t” moment of the trip. I recognized all that was true in that moment, and realized it was the actualization of so much I had wanted so badly several years ago. Diana of 2015 was longing to experience the world overseas, was in great amounts of physical pain, and had quite a bit of emotional work to do to be able to live a more relaxed and comfortable daily life. 

Four years later, here I was: walking confidently, pain-free, comfortably on my own, through the streets of a magical European city, on the back of my band’s overseas tour. I carried a minimally-packed backpack, had no rigid plan, and learned just enough Italian to order the “house specialty,” and then enjoy it guilt-free. I stopped in the street. I was the image of “success” for that former Diana, and it was the product of many hours of physical therapy, talk therapy, hard decisions, and fateful opportunities. Progress hadn’t happened easily or nearly as quickly as my perfectionist impatience would have liked; but there I was. What began as a reluctant solo excursion was now a celebration of how far I’ve come.

I sat on the steps of the Rialto Bridge (pictured here) and took in all the victories I was acknowledging in that moment. A teacher and mentor of mine used to ask in my music lessons: “recognize progress when you see it?” It was a verbal pat on the back we all need, and are often too preoccupied to offer ourselves. There’s so much to celebrate in the now, and a glance backward is sometimes the best way to acknowledge how far we’ve come. 

As I’m writing this post, I’m also feeling a patience with the present that I think I’ve been unknowingly searching for. If we set the goals, things do change, just maybe not on the timeline we’d hoped. Patience in times of extreme discontent is perhaps one of my most difficult practices (my mom is rolling her eyes right now), but looking behind us can also offer the comfort of how much is still yet to happen.

I’ll add one of my own teaching philosophies:  “Success creates success.” Recognizing progress is by far the best technique for motivating my students to continue working and moving forward. A pat on the back and a push further down the road. 

I can see now it’s impossible to see any current victories if we’re constantly looking ahead. Looking backward to celebrate them will not only allow patience with the “now,” it will make our next victories even more possible. I had to put myself in the shoes of a past Diana to fully see all that was true in the current moment, and then stand firmly where I was to get excited about the future.

I invite you to take a second to breathe, observe, and remember …. what is true today that you longed for yesterday? Then celebrate and have another scoop.

More from Italy coming soon.
Playlist is below.

Love to you all 💙🌏💨
Diana

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