globetrottingrosie

Can you remember the first time you felt truly happy? What did it feel like?  When I was younger, my happy place was performing on stage. Where I was pretending to be in a make-believe world, forgetting about who I really was, just for a couple of hours. I enjoyed the exhilaration of being vulnerable in front of the audience (as weird as that sounds.) When I was younger, I had dreamt of being a famous actress, because I thought that was what would make me happy. But as I got older, I found that those moments of happiness have changed.  Little things like dipping my feet into the water of the Mississippi River in America; something I'd heard about all my childhood and teenage years, and then suddenly I was there. Or the wind blowing through my hair while I enjoyed a speed boat ride along that same river, soaking up the rays of the sun. Or seeing Times Square in New York for the first time; which felt like stepping into the movies. Even in Vietnam, when I was very ill, I somehow...

 I don't know about you, but I'm not sure if I'm enjoying going 'back to normal'. Okay, so you might completely disagree with me, but hold on one second. This pandemic has not only caused millions of unnecessary deaths around the world, but it has also show us- the Western world in particular- how much inequality we are suffering. Whether it's money, jobs, gender, unemployment, Black Lives Matter.  This pandemic has shown the world what's wrong with it. What's wrong with US as human beings.  However.  Since the UK economy has slowly opened back up, and we are getting out and about more, just be wary of those on the autism spectrum, or who consider themselves neuro-diverse. Since commuting back to my drama school in south London from Hampshire, I've had several nightmare train journeys that make me realise how I really did NOT miss the travelling. The getting up really early, having to remember what to pack and make sure you have everything just for o...

 Okay, so spirituality isn't for everyone. In fact, not everyone participates in self-care, either. Not properly, anyway. I don't know about you, and your experiences, but I've always felt different from everybody else- and until recently, I've found it so hard to come up with reasons as to why I've struggled so much in various aspects of my life. For starters, my health is not the same as everybody else's. As a child and teenager, I was bullied in school (verbally) and all my school reports said the same thing- Rosie needs to put her hand up more in class. I was always the quiet one. As I developed, I was able to make a few very close friends. However, I have often felt very socially anxious - especially if I'm in a group of people of up to more than four - especially so if they are people of a similar age. You'll often finding me sitting or standing slightly outside of any kind of social circle- even now. I even transferred universities after the secon...

   What is love, in the 21st century? Tinder, Bumble, elite, match. We all wonder, what is our destiny But can never seem to find,  the right catch.   What is love, in the 21st century? Taking numbers, swapping Facebooks Oh wait, but what if he's a narcissist-  Better not let him off the hook.   What is love in the 21st century? Meaningless sex, and ST'I's.   What is love, in the 21st century? LGBT- are you straight, Gay or Bi?   What is love in the 21st century? Take it slow, nah, Let's get a mortgage Oh wait- he must be a narcissist   What is love, in the 21st century? #datenightwithhubby #letsgetthebubbly   What is love in the 21st century? Date nights? Nah- couples on their phones   What is love, in the 21st century? Oh, hang on, global pandemic- Outside takeaways  #pandemicdating   What is love in the 21st century? I'm really not sure-   ...

 28th December 2020.  As I sit in my living room (the norm of the year) watching a comedy which looked back on how  ridiculous 2020 has been, I can feel anger rising, and I'm not normally an angry person.  For my entire life, I've always felt like I've been searching. Searching for what, I don't know, but in the last couple of months, I've had a lot of flashlight moments, and a lot of anger building up inside.  Augusto Boal, a theatre director famous for his creations of the Forum and Invisible Theatre techniques (where the audience, or witnesses, are fully involved with the actors) claims that politics is our 'sovereign art' while Paulo Freire- an educator and philosopher- claims that 'education should create freedom'.  Now, the comedy I was watching, combined with debates and essays I've written on my MA- have given me another flashlight moment: it's not the coronavirus that's breaking the world- it's actually proving how much we DE...

 Recently at my drama school, there was a poster up on the toilet doors (on the inside, yes!) asking, "What is the best thing about being a woman?" It was probably up for about a month or so.  Yet, only ONE person had written on any of the posters that had been stuck up. The answer was: "THE PHYSICAL ASPECTS!" So basically, their body. But what does this mean? Firstly, I was shocked that only one person had written anything. Secondly, that the only thing that person could reply was that their body was the best thing about being female.  I've noticed, particularly over the course of 2020 (the year of doom) or at least I feel- do we, as women, talk enough to each other about being women? 2020 has been a year of constant health worries for everyone, all genders alike.  There are certain aspects of my health as a woman that I've really struggled with, emotionally as well as mentally.  But it's only since opening up and talking to my friends about these issue...

 I've navigated myself across the subway in NYC; through the crazy  Asian cities of Bankok and Ho Chi Minh; waited for hours and  hours for delayed flights on my travels in Vietnam;  and even clutched onto a puppy for dear life  while on the back of a moped.  I've also had an extra night in Boston when a flight wasn't going out due to  weather...or something along those lines.  (Bankok skyeline) I have so many travelling nightmares, but in all that time I managed  to navigate myself in  not just one, but a few foreign countries where English  was far from the first language.  Yet the two times I've experienced panic attacks have both been in London.  How does this make sense? The first attack struck on my way to Roehampton Uni, about two years ago,  when I was runningvery late and none of the taxi services were available.  (I arrived half an hour late on the first evening.) This week on my way up to Mountview, I ...

 As I embark not on a plane, but on my MA, I feel a new sense of beginnings, amongst a world of chaos.  I recently began typing up the diaries I had kept while travelling in Thailand and Vietnam, and it got me wondering about how we are all searching for the same thing in life: a sense of belonging.  I remember landing in Bankok airport, suddenly feeling as though I belonged. It was a very new feeling, and I couldn't recall feeling that sense of ease and happiness anywhere else.  My expedition in Vietnam didn't quite go according to plan. I should technically still be there, but it seemed as though the world had other plans... Yesterday was my first day on campus for my Masters degree. As I came out of Peckham Rye station, I suddenly realised that we don't always need to travel hundreds of miles to find  the culture fix we might want, or for an exciting new life abroad that we all dream of. I noticed that I was walking through an African area. Street-markets, na...

So, I've been wanting to write this one for a while,  but have been unsure how to write it, as I will have lots of  ex-colleagues who may well be reading this. I'm going to try and be 'positively' realistic - if that's actually a phrase! Dyspraxia is one of those that some of you may know a little about,  but might confuse it with dyslexia. For those of you that have't heard of dyspraxia at all,  the best way to describe it (without using any dictionary definitions)  is as a struggle with co-ordination, spacial awareness,  and a different way of thinking- how we process the information around us, and given to us.  While I was  still working as a Learning Support Assistant,  my colleagues put on a video in an assembly about autism.  The narrator asked, 'Is the wold too bright, too loud and too fast?' This made me really stop and think about who I am,  and how my dyspraxia affects me.  My answer to this question is- YES. The worl...

Once again, Boris Johnson has claimed that  obesity is a massive problem in the UK. Watching the news headlines over the last couple of weeks,  has made me really question  the Western ways of life, and our culture as a whole.  For some reason, the coronavirus has hit the West pretty awfully. But why -  is it the way our government have handled the pandemic? Is it our possible lack of cleanliness that we hadn't realised before?  (Which is ironic, because a doctor in Vietnam commented  that I had come from a clean country!) Is it our 'over- confidence' in the NHS? Or have we developed other deeper habits that have affected us,  without us even noticing? Vietnam have only had 300 cases, and ALL of them survived.  So where have we gone wrong? As I listened to a radio discussion yesterday about various current political topics,  including obesity, I wondered if we have created a nega...

Recently, I've written a lot of reflective posts on depression,  and how 2020 has been a year of endings and change. If, like me, you're somebody who feels as though you are constantly  swimming against the tide, and can't figure why things aren't quite  working out like you hoped, I would absolutely recommend journaling. I sat down one morning this week with my notebook,  with a list of questions in front of me, and I just wrote. I didn't even have to think, or pause, or reflect. I just knew. What was I writing? What did I re-discover about myself? ( Happy House Cafe, Ha Tinh, Vietnam-  the ideal place for reflection,  and where I spent my first few months of this year. ) Now, I've been off work, or not working, since the end of January.  I've followed the global pandemic quite literally, almost across the globe,  from Vietnam to the UK. I'm sure for a lot of people, lock-down has  been a ...

As we watch the devastating news on the British gymnastics, it's gotten me thinking about how we treat our own bodies. I'm not meaning to have a go at anyone at all- it's another topic that seems particularly prominent this day and age. While I worked as an LSA, I noticed that nearly ALL my colleagues were on diets, going to the gym, or running. Or all of the above. For the entire time I worked with them, I didn't really get it- or at least, I understood to an extent, but is there a point where dieting and weight becomes an excessive worry that none of us need? Now, you're probably wondering, why on earth is tiny Rosie talking about weight? Well. I have one question for you. Hands up, who feels confident in their own body? You probably won't believe me, but it's taken me a LONG time to even BEGIN to feel comfortable in my own skin. I've had lots of compliments about my own height and weight/general body alignment. However, I'm not...