Sunday Reflection
Looking back at a chapter of my life that changed far more than my address.
Years ago, I lived at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, overlooking the city and the Brisbane River.
I worked in the corporate sector and was very much a city girl. I enjoyed the lifestyle, the convenience, and, if I'm honest, some of the status that came with it.
Then my relationship ended.
A month later, I was made redundant.
Suddenly, I found myself standing at a crossroads, unsure what came next.
I accepted a FIFO contract job in regional outback Queensland, flying home every two weeks for a weekend. My thinking was simple: the distance would give me space to reflect and decide what I wanted from life.
What I didn't expect was how much the experience would challenge my assumptions.
Life in a mining town was very different from life in the city. The culture was different. The people were different. The conversations were different.
At first, I noticed the rough language, the work boots, and the practical way people carried themselves.
Over time, I noticed something else.
Many of the people I met had built considerable wealth and successful lives, yet very few felt the need to advertise it. There was a quiet confidence about them that didn't depend on appearances.
It was a humbling lesson.
I realised I had been carrying expectations I didn’t even know I had. City life had taught me to pay attention to certain signals of success. Regional outback life taught me that those signals don’t always tell the full story.
Sometimes the greatest shifts in perspective happen when we step outside the environments that shaped us.
The world looks different when you stop assuming you already understand it.
This was the beginning of a life-changing journey. What started as a FIFO contract job became a working road trip along the eastern coast of Queensland, giving me the opportunity to live and work in very different environments and communities.
Looking back at these photos now, I realise the biggest change wasn’t the landscape around me.
It was the landscape within me.
The first two photos were taken during evening walks along the cliffs of Kangaroo Point, overlooking the Brisbane skyline.
The last two show the mining camp I called home for a year. Rows of dongas, each a small bedroom and en-suite, surrounded by the vast, barren landscape of regional outback Queensland.
#amandaray #SundayReflection #Reflections #Perspective #Wisdom