Here I am, at the Lakeside of Barbican, seated under the sun and thinking, it’s 31 August 2013, the last day of August, the last day of Hack The Barbican – the one event that took over my life in the past month in a few ways.

It started out as a fascination; then the pure joy of doing things and meeting inspiring people; growing friendships; taking ownership; overturning and reinforcing beliefs. My August had been of living and breathing HTB, where after work, I would go to the Barbican to hang out. For the first time, I squeezed two full days into one. Heaven knows how I managed to fit in all the other things around HTB – completing a project that bore significant meaning to me at work, quitting a gig, attending celebrations, insisting on exercising 30 minutes a day etc.

It made me happy, frustrated, fascinated, confused, upset, excited and grateful. It was chaos and exhaustion physically and mentally.

Then I dropped it and escaped to Scotland. The tranquility of waking up to the gentle sounds of the sea, the purest determination to face Mother Nature head to head and ride the waves, and the raw emotion of saying goodbye were altogether something else.

Summer is coming to an end, but every ending is just another beginning. As I stand at the tail of August and look into September, I don’t know what awaits. I have a direction, one that I chose but what will I find on the journey? I tried and tried to find an answer better than “I don’t know” but realised I simply lacked the necessary imagination. I just have to be at peace with the fact that I have to be a wide-eyed wanderer, and find the principles that make me stand strong.

So as I sat here and looked up to the blue, blue sky, I whispered, “Thank you, August 2013. You have brought me amazing friendships – old and new – and my soul to new places. I couldn’t have been more grateful.”