Nathan just boarded the plane. He still has the smile on his face from juggling. A couple kids pointed and laughed at him while he was silly juggling. He laughed when he saw them. This memory kept the smile on his face while he squeezed into his window seat, right side of the plane while seated, always the right side when he chose.

Nathan was a man of habit. He found himself often eating the same food and wearing the same clothes. He tries to fill his time with the things that are more meaningful. Lately that has meant cooking himself breakfast, meditating, reading, journaling, and talking with other people. Helping some folks with their stuff while reaching out to others for help with his stuff. Nathan has a small group, mostly family, but he keeps them close. Although not geographically close, regular phone calls with grandma are necessary.

The plane began to roll back after about twenty minutes of Nathan being seated. He felt like it was pretty quick in relative terms. He was one of the last people to board. He often wondered if getting on the plane first or last is better. Since he's gotten a little more flying experience under his belt, he ran an experiment over the years. He would wait in some instances until last call, and there would be no line. This seemed to work. There were a couple instances where there was no longer space for his luggage in the overhead bin. It had to be checked. Boarding first is slightly less stressful for him, but it requires being early. Nathan was rarely on time. It became a battle of the stresses in some instances. Stress to be early to board first, or stress because of the middle to last boarding process with maybe no space for bags.

It wasn't until this flight that Nathan had a realization. While the plane rolled backwards, he asked himself, what if I just let life come and not stress either way? He thought this over for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of each approach. He went back and forth over the merits of putting pressure to be quicker, the efficiency, the ability to relax later. And that's when it clicked in his mind. He was hit with a flash of insight and a flood of memories to support this new hypothesis. The ability to relax later, he repeated in his mind. This was the downfall of it all. The question continuing without answer is why not relax now. He tried to think of an answer, only to realize he was trying to defend his current lifestyle because, for him, the relaxation always came later. He chuckles audibly, laughing at his own duality, noticing the glance from the person sitting next to him. It is a full flight after all. The plane ride will be long. Nathan hopes to find joy in these once-in-a-lifetime moments. He thinks that maybe he can relax now because he is right where he is supposed to be.

Hana cam to this island a couple years ago. She's really a lovely personality and a lot of fun to be around. She loves to dance randomly and to go out dancing. The girl has a free spirit, and she has a bubbly charm that presents like mature innocence. Her belief in herself was something she had worked on for years.

Hana moved to this island after a nasty breakup. Her ex-boyfriend was verbally abusive, and he made her feel like she wasn't pretty or enough. He really did a number on her self esteem. Hana cut all contact with him because he was constantly putting her down and trying to bring her back into his hectic life. She opted for a simple life with a job and some friends. This all went well for a couple months. Until her ex showed up at her new job. He made a big scene, yelled and screamed at her and the other staff. he scared the staff, the customers, and her with this look of rage he could get. He left without incident on that day, but she knew something had to change.

Hana often thought back on those days. She thought about the person she used to be. While she sat at home on the island journaling, she replayed that day in her head. She replayed a few days in her head. The move to this island and the decision to stay are not as simple as she ran away from an unsafe situation. It may make for an easy story to tell, but life is rarely that simple, and her mind continued down this road of thinking. What was she doing, what was the goal when she started? These are what she was asking. It had been a couple years. She reminded herself that she didn't need all of the answers today. She took a moment to breathe. Ahhhh as she released an audible, relaxing sigh.

Hana had a yoga class to teach in the next hour. There wasn't any rush because the studio was just a couple minutes walk away. She wanted to prepare for this class though, as she always did. Hana has a ritual of going through the class once quickly on the mat, remembering her cues, going over the intention, and feeling through the class. She has found this approach to deepen her own experience and makes her better able to teach. The preparation is her super power, and that's what she tells herself. Nobody else knows how much work she actually put in, but she knows. She can be proud of herself and carry her head high. That's a skill Hana picked up along the way. She didn't start out so confident.

Hana had a flash in her mind that gave her a little excitement and panic. She remembered that Nathan would be in her class that afternoon. They were speaking that morning about the cafe idea. She secretly wondered if she even wanted to do that, but it sounded like a great plan. She figured she could go along with it and back out of involvement if she doesn't like it. As she thought through it, she was just introducing people. Running the cafe was Nathan's dream, she thought. She was just helping someone along their journey.