The Curated coat (similar)
Sezane cardigan
Zara jeans (similar)
Rouje boots (similar)
& Other Stories handbag
RayBan sunglasses
Stella & Dot ring
Location: The Ambassador Apartments – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Carefree is not an adjective I would ever have chosen to describe myself. In fact, many of its antonyms more accurately convey my personality; rigid and regimented both come to mind. But as we prepare to depart for Italy in four days, and I’m consumed by thoughts that would never have crossed my mind before the spring of 2022, I know that comparatively, I was carefree, once upon a time. Travel was part of my daily reality, not a luxury. There was always another trip on the horizon. I packed at the last second. I went places with no agenda, and no contingency plans. It was simple. I didn’t have to worry, because there would always be another chance, another visit to wherever I was going.
It’s only recently that I’ve begun to look back on my pre-pandemic life as a carefree one. It was a happy one, there’s no doubt about that – but while I was living it, I didn’t conflate the two things. The fact is, I didn’t conflate them because I’d never experienced the alternative to a carefree life. I’d never had to consider anyone but myself. And there’d never been any true obstacles in the way of my doing exactly what I wanted.
Obviously, we all know when, and why, that changed.
We take so much for granted. That’s one of the many hard lessons I’ve learned in the past two years. But what I’ve also come to realise is how hard it is not to take things for granted when there’s never seemed to be the slightest chance that they might be taken from you. I’d always lived a carefree life. I knew nothing else, which meant I didn’t even recognise it for what it was, never mind recognise the privilege it was to have it and understand that wasn’t guaranteed. It was just my normal.
I remain immensely privileged, of course, and more carefree than most. But my life, in particular the travel portion of it, is so much less easy than it used to be, something I feel acutely as I prepare lengthy to-do lists to get ready for departure and still find myself wondering if there’s anything I might have unwittingly missed. We leave in four days. Those four days, once a giddy rush of anticipation and frantic packing will now be filled with anxiety and an interminable list of what ifs…
…but it’s those what ifs that teach me to appreciate what it was to be carefree, once upon a time. And what it might be like to be carefree again someday, in a time when I can fully comprehend what a gift it is to live that way.
This coat is amazing !
Miki x
https://littletasteofbeauty.com/