Eat Pray Love

The Moroccan Edition

I’m not sure if you have heard about the book and later on the movie: Eat Pray Love, but it’s about a woman who lives in her “perfect” world in the United States and this world comes crashing down when she gets divorced. This woman then decides to quit her job and leave it all behind to embark on a journey across the world in an attempt to rediscover her true self. She travels to Italy, where she falls in love again with food and feels daily inspired by the culture which is so alive and full of amazing hospitality and generosity. Then she travels to India, where she takes herself on a journey within and strengthens her relationship with her soul and higher guidance. Right after, she travels to Bali, where she falls in love again with love and life. 

I started this year on a pretty good high – the highest I had felt in over 4 years. Unfortunately, this high didn’t hold on long before my world shattered to pieces. Negative event after negative event after negative event happened, until I felt totally defeated. It was almost as if my body said: Now I can no longer be strong anymore. 

The constant battle, struggle, fight, hard work, pain, loss, heartbreaks, and just life’s daily fight… my resilience tank had run empty and there was nothing holding me up any longer.

The never-ending battles of life became too much. I’m well aware of my inner strength (as life – and my mama – truly taught me how to be strong), yet within this moment, I truly felt like I could no longer hold on or hold it together. You know that saying where most people quit right before they blow up? This was that moment for me. (And yes, I am expecting a blow-up soon, as that would be the only thing that would make it all make sense, lol.) I wanted to throw in the towel so badly and simply run back to my cave of comfort. And trust me, I did. Yet giving up wasn’t an option. My soul knew I’d worked way too hard, had fought way too many battles and survived way too many nightmares to now give up and throw in the towel. I was well aware how close I felt to being upgraded to a new level / timeline of life. Yet, within that moment, I had nothing left in me to fight any longer or have any more patience to get there.

I decided to take a break from life. I took a step back, took time to sit with myself and figure out my priorities, and planned a trip with my last coins to Morocco to be with my favorite person in the world. And without knowing this upfront, this trip allowed me to experience all the things I craved, needed and had been missing so much. 

REST: Morocco gave me peace of mind and REST. I felt far away and disconnected from the world as I knew it (which was great). Everything and almost everyone felt to be living in a different universe than mine within that moment. Because of this feeling, I was able to truly go within and listen to what my personal needs were instead of losing myself in all the daily obligations, connections and commitments. Rest and re-embodying my body and soul became a daily activity and practice, which went hand in hand with grounding.

REFLECT: The culture was a mixture of so many memories and reminded me of so many other different experiences I have had in life, or of places I have seen. It made me reflect a lot about my journey. It felt amazing to be surrounded by a culture which loves to, in my experience, care and share. This feeling brought me back down to earth and reminded me of the most important things in life: making memories, family, connection, talking or cooking together, saying hi to your neighbors, being generous and full of hospitality to and for each other and to simply, on a daily basis, decide to be a nice, kind and caring human.  

EAT: The food, the hospitality, the care, the freshest juices and fruits, nuts, dates and other healthy snacks, the best tagines and curries – oh, my god, everything was so tasty! And my favorite part, everyone was eating with their hands! (I love eating with my hands. Yes, I’m that dirty girl.) And not to forget French influenced cakes and yummy deserts, which I truly ate on the daily (to spoil myself), and just so much more!

PRAY: Each night, I had a lot of time to myself. I didn’t party, I didn’t go out dancing all night (I know, who was I?), didn’t drink, and for almost 3 weeks, I was able to spend many nights of being just with myself. Every late night was quiet time, and if I craved even more time alone, then I simply chose to stay up even longer (so I was more conscious and aware of my alone time). These nights gave me time to reflect, connect, pray, visualize, meditate, and tune into my own needs, wishes, desires and dreams. What is my body saying and what does my soul want? I was finally able to not be distracted and to tune out all the outside noises while turning back into myself and my feelings. I was able to dive deep and to rediscover myself and all the parts I’d never visited internally yet or all the parts that wanted to be seen, heard or felt so deeply.

LOVE: I was surrounded by the purest love I could have ever asked for. There is nobody in the world (besides my grandparents, mom and sister) who could have given me this pure love than the people I was with. Every day, I was full of appreciation that life had guided me to this exact place at this exact time where I was able to work through all the stuff I worked through, surrounded by love while re-falling in love with life and myself again.

It felt almost like a dream, as if life gave me a vacation away from life itself: a place where I was able to disappear from the world and all its responsibilities and connections, yet a place which felt like home because of the people I was with. It was a place where I was able to feel grounded and where every conversation gave me new insights about myself and about life. Every conversation, hug or time spent together was based on love and healing. Who needs a therapist when you pick your people well? 

Morocco was the cherry on top of this, a hell of an emotional year. It gave me 3 weeks to process, to heal, to love and to simply put myself first. Morocco became my Eat Pray Love. It made me fall in love again with all the things I love about life. I felt inspired, and each day, I became closer and better in tune with my personal desires. I felt aligned with myself, my needs and my wishes and I promised to myself to no longer NOT put myself first ever again. I had been giving my energy and heart on a plate away for free to anybody and everybody who grabbed it or was open to receive it, and I decided I no longer will or can or want to do this. I had finally realized my personal value and authenticity which I’d worked way too hard for and sacrificed way too much for to just be shitted on.

The crazy part: right after this trip, my life got a major wending. A few weeks before my Morocco trip, I’d decided to create room and make space in my life so blessings which were meant for me could appear. I moved out of my apartment, went back home, quit my side jobs, left two of my agencies and allowed the universe to show me the way. No, I did not sit at home and do nothing, but I kept working on my personal business and kept showing up only in places I desired or felt called to be.

Fast forward: It is now July 2024, my birthday month, and I’m currently living in Miami (I love this city so much!) and the things that are waiting for me are so amazingly bright and beautiful that I can’t wait to celebrate my birthday soon, but mostly, I can’t wait to celebrate myself. I did it. I made it through some of the hardest days, once again. And I know what is waiting for me now is pure bliss! I had sacrificed enough and worked too hard on myself, on my life and on my gifts. I’d watered my seeds patiently, and this is the season where I open up my life to make room for all the flowers I believe I deserve. It’s happening RIGHT NOW.

IT’S TIME TO GET UP AND SMELL THE FLOWERS.

Eat Pray Love Morocco, you were the final love letter to myself, the love letter which showed me the beauty of life, but mostly the beauty of myself.

PS. I want you to know I wasn’t able to afford this trip because of having enough money in my bank account to go on a trip. Instead, I was able to afford this trip as I had worked and invested for 33 years in my connections. I was able to afford this trip because I chose to be bold. I was able to afford this trip because I worked extra hours so I could save money. Eventually, I quit my jobs and left two of my agencies to create space and time to even be able to go on a trip. I was able to afford this trip as I moved out of my apartment (and travelled continents) for the same reasons of creating free space and moving room in my life. This way, I was able to have the least obligations and commitments so life was able to show me and guide me to where my next steps should or could be. I also was able to afford this trip to Africa, as Morocco was actually cheaper to live and eat in than the place I was living. (I was basically saving money by being away.) And most important: I was able to afford this trip because I chose to. 

Don’t let your limited thoughts think you can only achieve your personal Eat Pray Love experiences (wherever you are in the world) based on the money you have or don’t have. Many of my personal dreams have manifested, and barely ever because of money and always because I was able to “pay for them” with my energy, investments, priorities, connections, risks, (solo) jumps, discipline, sacrifices, good intentions and brave choices.

Skipping a few dinners, parties, clothes, and target runs will afford you a flight ticket sooner than you can imagine. And each trip, I meet new people with new destinations, which creates more future opportunities and possibilities for more trips around the world. Eating food? You have to do this anywhere anyway. So, if this is in one place or another, it shouldn’t affect you (or your wallet) majorly and can sometimes even be more beneficial in another place!

I have noticed that many people think you need to have a certain amount of money to do things in life like moving continents, traveling or going on vacation. I am the first to tell you, based on my personal experiences, it’s definitely not the only way. The other way is truly to be courageous, brave, disciplined and to be working hard on your priorities and your personal resilience, gifts, energy, boldness, faith, kindness and self-love. There are many (other) investments you are able to make (like investing deeply in your networks and connections while coming from a pure and genuine place) to be able to create opportunities like these for yourself.

If there’s a will and you are ready to work for it, sacrifice for it and invest in it… there’s definitely a way, always!