oh to be a dreamer.

my name is taylor armstrong

these are my thoughts, inspirations and stories from the road.

eternita asked: Thanks for sharing your thoughts, it means a lot and is really refreshing to see you chasing your dreams.

Thank you! :) Thanks for reading them..

Checked out the Vivid light exhibition in Sydney today during my stopover. It was crazy good.

Checked out the Vivid light exhibition in Sydney today during my stopover. It was crazy good.

I wanted to add something to my story from last night (on my blog).

As we sat talking about our jobs and dreams, these two men openly admitted that they had let their dreams go in a chase for money, and they hated the work lives they had.

They had promised themselves two years on the mines to get up a little money to do what they dreamt about, and here they were 7 and 16 years into their jobs on the mines. One told me of his dream to end sex trafficking in South East Asia, another told me of his dream to own a fishing boat and teach people to fish.

It’s not too late for them - I still believe it can happen. But with the same urgency that I saw in their eyes as they told us to chase our dreams instead of money I want to tell you - Don’t let anything get in the way of the dream.

Tonight I had one of the most inspiring and life-changing conversations of my life… and I’m not one to throw around the term ‘life-changing’. Here’s the story. My housemate, Luke, and I went out for a goodbye beer at the Subi Hotel before I jet off to the USA. The purpose of our night was as simple as that, to share a few beers, a packet of cigarettes and enjoy each others company one more time. During the night we made small talk with a couple of mine workers across the room, nothing but jokes and “so how’s your night?” small talk. The bar emptied out and we invited them over to talk after a little.. I’ll admit.. awkward eye contact. The guys joined us at our table and the conversation led from “What do you do for a living” to “What broke your heart?”. I was sitting across the table from two rough dudes, much older than me, opening their hearts up and telling stories of sexual abuse and broken homes. This blew my mind. A man that I would consider to be a rough, manly man, had opened his heart up to us to tell us about his deepest struggles, and for the first time I truly saw that everyone hurts and everyone needs help. They told their stories of recovery and how it took someone just to listen to them and just to say “it’s going to be alright” for them to pull through. And they did. Here they were, alive. This hit me on such a personal level. This showed me personally, that firstly everyone hurts and secondly, that no one is beyond help. I came home with an intention to write an elaborate story of tonight’s events… but it is as simple as that. Everyone hurts - No one is beyond help - and no matter how distant we may feel from someone’s sitatuation, we have an opportunity to reach them where they are at, simply by listening and by speaking the words “It is not over.” I feel this is something I need to think over before I can truly understand what this means to me. But here it is. My first impression. Love.

Tonight I had one of the most inspiring and life-changing conversations of my life… and I’m not one to throw around the term ‘life-changing’.

Here’s the story.

My housemate, Luke, and I went out for a goodbye beer at the Subi Hotel before I jet off to the USA. The purpose of our night was as simple as that, to share a few beers, a packet of cigarettes and enjoy each others company one more time.

During the night we made small talk with a couple of mine workers across the room, nothing but jokes and “so how’s your night?” small talk. The bar emptied out and we invited them over to talk after a little.. I’ll admit.. awkward eye contact. The guys joined us at our table and the conversation led from “What do you do for a living” to “What broke your heart?”.

I was sitting across the table from two rough dudes, much older than me, opening their hearts up and telling stories of sexual abuse and broken homes. This blew my mind. A man that I would consider to be a rough, manly man, had opened his heart up to us to tell us about his deepest struggles, and for the first time I truly saw that everyone hurts and everyone needs help.

They told their stories of recovery and how it took someone just to listen to them and just to say “it’s going to be alright” for them to pull through. And they did. Here they were, alive.

This hit me on such a personal level. This showed me personally, that firstly everyone hurts and secondly, that no one is beyond help.

I came home with an intention to write an elaborate story of tonight’s events… but it is as simple as that. Everyone hurts - No one is beyond help - and no matter how distant we may feel from someone’s sitatuation, we have an opportunity to reach them where they are at, simply by listening and by speaking the words “It is not over.”

I feel this is something I need to think over before I can truly understand what this means to me. But here it is. My first impression.

Love.

Nothing makes me happier than animals who think they’re human.

When a loved one is in pain everything else just seems… insignificant.