A Hopeful Wanderer: peace + quiet

As I mentioned on my previous post, I spent this past week with my family in Cerveira, a small town in the north of Portugal. Something that needs to be said about this region is that the weather is really, really inconstant, which may cause a lot of frustration - but, in this case, it led us to many new discoveries and adventures!

We stayed in a tiny house in the middle of the mountains, with barely any phone reception or wi-fi connection. It felt amazing to disconnect from social media, even for a week. As I may have mentioned before, I struggle with anxiety, and by temporarily removing all the social media checks from my life, I felt way more peaceful.

As an introvert (I'm an INFJ), I feel the need to take time to be alone sometimes, and this week was perfect to do that! I could just sit back and read my book (A Feast for Crows) without constantly checking my phone. However, now that I'm back, all those things are flooding back into my life, which can be kind of hard sometimes.

On the warm days, we'd swim in the pool and sunbathe. My aunts and uncles even came by one day, to share a meal of Cozido à Portuguesa (Portuguese traditional dish) made by my mum! It was a true blessing to spend these days with those I love the most.

On cloudy days, we had to find something to do, so we decided to explore the North of Portugal and Galicia, Spain. We went to Valença, Melgaço, Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and we explored the valley of the Lima river.

My heart was in awe with all these wonders of my beautiful country (and, well, Spain). These places have kept their uniqueness through hundreds of years, away from all the confusion and mess of big cities. It feels so wonderful to look around and feel the presence of God everywhere. How could it not be the presence of God, when it amazes my heart so much?

It was also a great opportunity for me to develop my photography skills. I've recently started shooting on manual mode, and I would love to invest on a camera of my own someday. For now, I use my dad's camera, but that's okay because I love it! Here are some of the many pictures I took this week. Hopefully, one year from now, I'll look back and think they're terrible, but that's okay because it will mean that I've improved!