For my family, these weekends meant a free weekend to look around and do as they pleased. For me — It was time to go to work. As I got older I realized that although I had been to every place within the United States, I had never really travelled. My vacations were glorified work seminars.

This all changed when I traveled to Europe two weeks ago.

It was beautiful! Relaxing. Fun. Care-free! It made me feel like I was a kid again. I finally got to see what it was like on the other side of the fence and I loved it!

The most interesting thing about these two weeks was that it enhanced what makes me happy from the inside out, which is rare in today’s society.

Let me explain this further. I live in Hollywood, California where it’s very difficult to do what makes YOU happy. It seems to be a place (at least for me) that makes you go after what seems to be making other people happy and not yourself. That’s a dangerous place to be in life.

The small town in Sweden I visited was peaceful. My girlfriend and I biked through the fields, we played mini-golf, danced in the kitchen, ate brunch with her mother on the beach — we did everything with the spirit of a ten year old. Young and alive! Our actions were coming from a place of joy and not a place of judgement. Which unlike before, is a great place to be in life.

We went to London for a few days and it was amazing. A bit overwhelming but simply stunning to say the least. Timeless architecture designed by mortals as well as castles that have been soaked with hundreds of years of tradition and culture. It opened my eyes to how big the world is and how people no different then myself, changed history as we know it. It showed me things I’d never seen. It taught me there is no time to waste chasing after other peoples dreams. To get on the level of the people making these historical monuments, it must come from a place of authenticity.

All in all I wanted to create this post as an opportunity to vent and get down a few thoughts from my trip to Europe which in my point of view was my first vacation. Also, I hoped it would inspire one of you to take a step back and realize what makes you happy from the inside out. Although it took me almost 20 years to see what it was like on the other side fence, it was worth it. So always remember:

It’s like a game of hide and seek. We never lose the child within… we just have to go and find ourselves sometimes.