In the news, a man with a grudge obliterated his brother’s full stock of pet fish for sale when he added too-cold water to the tanks of tropical fish. In another story, a spiteful woman destroyed her and her husband’s livelihood by cooking the collection of Siamese fighting fish he had been using to make an income. Meanwhile, a new acquaintance confessed to having ‘fish-ues’ maintaining the 300 litre tank of ‘fisk’ he keeps at home…haha, fishues. It was late and we were laughing our faces off.
Such quirky stories, while amusing, also highlight to me the deftness of Mother Nature who regulates the precarious balance of life on such a finite level, with such ease. Also, the potential devastation that can come when you tamper too much with things. Who knew pet fish could inject so much drama into life?
I confess that while this simple notion does tickle my fancy, I am also all too aware of the fine balance of my own endeavour. I have the chance to reap all that this new city has to offer me in distractions and entertainments, under what is (after reviewing my finances this morning) a very limited and limiting budget. I came here to, if I may, cast the net and see what I would catch. And though my net is small, I am quickly discovering just how small this pond is. I’ve still managed to pull in a great deal with every throw – certainly much more than I would have expected in two weeks.
From my arrival I have found almost immediately that there was a full life here just waiting for me. I have walked many miles, partied for hours, encountered many familiar faces on multiple occasions, exchanged ideas, witnessed acts of great generosity and been subject to great affection. I have been granted entrée to the community as though I’d always been here, be it from new friends or the guy who runs my local shop…it’s early days perhaps, but it's been ruthlessly consistent.
I don’t feel like a tourist, I feel like I’m home. I came here because previous visits demonstrated that Copenhagen maintained a relatively good temperature for this fish. I did not come here needing to ask for slightly warmer or colder water to keep me safe and happy. I didn’t come here seeking a bigger tank or smaller one. I haven’t needed as much time to acclimatise because I somehow knew that this big tank was right for me. I just knew what I needed to be content and found it in this little corner of the world where I am writing with a big smile on my face.
I can see now how life in London (for all its greatness) was harder work because everyone around me was swimming in a slightly different clime to one another, and that in order to connect and find balance with each, I was subject to a constant exercise in making adjustments via a rushed (it is London afterall) and therefore, fallible method. With that much variety to manage, equilibrium for me was impossible to maintain for any length of time without, what I see now, significant compromise (so what’s the point?, I ask). One fish or another was either really content, or going belly up.
Suddenly, that life of fluctuations has just…stopped! And with immediate effect, I have felt such an overwhelming and effortless sense of peace. I am finally just in my own tank that I can just enjoy (sorry, but the analogy has swum away with itself!) where others seem to co-exist in a comparatively consistent way. There are still different shapes and colours to discover, new stimuli. But there is also harmony. Each moment – the fun, the quiet, the riotous, the domestic – has still been ‘balanced’ and relaxed, and blissfully so.
So, is it me or Mother Nature just doing her thang? A bit of both I think. I got myself to the place where Mother Nature can do her best work for me. Now that I’m here, I figure the rest should go swimmingly :)
Random Girl
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