Krystyl's One Letter Of Truth

I was in the 6th grade, in a private Christian school no less, when I first learned about LOVE through Olive Juice.

It wasn’t the feeling of LOVE I was learning.  It was finding out that you can manipulate words so powerful by saying something that can be twisted into a completely different meaning very quickly.

Olive Juice
I love you.
When you mouth olive juice to someone across a room, it looks like you’re saying I love you.

This was about the time I learned, that not everything that is said, is said with heart, feeling or even a care in the world as to what someone else thinks or feels.

This year, I had a few goals set in mind for myself. And they were:
1. ) Get a stamp on my passport.
2.) Focus less on trying to bring love into your life, and focus more on the success of you and helping others succeed.
3.) Travel. Learn to love others through their experiences.
4.) Go on as many dates as possible. Understand that there is a whole world of possibility out there, but most importantly, just have fun.

I challenged myself to each of the items above.

Starting with #4.

Extremely hesitant to do so, I signed up for several dating sites. I have made myself a somewhat familiar face in San Francisco and knowing that if I did this, it would only become the latest and greatest gossip. I went on a few good dates, and went on some extremely bad dates. Some of the post conversations I realized, that my dry witty sense of humor had to be shared with the rest of the world, so I started BoysAreNotCharming.com. I ended up sharing most of the text conversations on Facebook and failed to keep the website updated, you can check out the whole folder with conversations and creepy stalkeresque images included.

The frustrations of my dating life were not all through the internet, I did in fact go on a few dates with individuals that were met in real life in random places, such as an airport (full post bitter break-up can be read here), coffee shop, and even through mutual friends.

Classic Email Breakup

Knowing that I am one to stand strong to how I feel and will fight until I get my way, I realized its best that I focus on me, and not trying to change others to try and put up with me. I can be a true pain in the ass. But I still wanted to share the LOVE in some way possible.

That brings me to #3.

Along with my good friends, and the support of the social community, I started MyLoveTravels.com where I take a simple sign that says LOVE and share it with the world. LOVE is always about a feeling, but not always about relationships. It could be how you feel towards a project you are working on, how you felt about your day, and even about a pair of shoes you recently purchased for yourself. The first video was shot in San Francisco (video), with over 100 individuals and 1200 photos narrowed down to approximately 500. All of friends, strangers, and loved ones wanting to do one simple thing, LOVE. I decided to take LOVE on the road and had the pleasure of shooting some amazing people such as Coheed and Cambria, Conan O’brien, Michelle Branch, Incubus and more!

With an open heart, and yearning for a better year, I focused on #2.

Knowing that not everything is about personal relationships in your life, and that LOVE is shared in different ways (work, friendships, and more), I decided my career was one I needed to focus on. Already insecure of my abilities to make things happen without the approval of others, over the years I have slowly taken on larger projects. Some have failed and others have succeeded. But most importantly, I faced the challenges that have made me a stronger individual today.

At 27 years old, I felt as though I should be further along in my life both financially and successfully. In previous years, I have turned down large job offers, and opportunities because I just didn’t feel confident enough in myself to make them successful. This year, I focused on pushing out the things that were holding me back, and taking opportunities that I knew I could take and left the opportunities that just weren’t right for me. With that, I was able to work with an amazing team for Social Media Week, The Recording Academy (aka The Grammys), and more.

My nerd side focused less on the celebrities walking around and more that I was hanging out with Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram!

There was only one thing missing from all of this years hard work, and thats #1.

I’ve been joking around for over a year now that I have been wanting to take a one-way ticket to Ireland. Everyone asks why, and while there really is no solid explanation for this, other than I have become way too close with Netflix and watching sappy love movies that all seem to involve hot Irishmen. But with the goal in mind that I really still need to focus on myself and less on my personal life, I opted for traveling to some other random places.

Without telling anyone what my actual plan was, and knowing that people will believe just about anything they are told if they read it on the internet, then whatever I was doing must be true.

So I packed my bags and jumped on a plane and landed in Cyprus. Where I have been making friends with the local villagers, and most importantly, going Olive picking.

The olives really are the most important part of this story you see. As you think that Olive Juice is just a word that while reading lips you could easily mistake for “I Love You”. But really, taking the day, and spending it with someone who has spent his life being a local entrepreneur as a farmer, taxi driver, family man, store owner, and more, the love really comes from with-in.

Waking up early, getting together all the gear for the day, and going out to the fields with your tools and putting your heart and soul into knowing you grew these amazing things that will soon become oil, that YOU made. With your own hands. All of that effort isn’t because you were forced to do it, it’s because you did something you love.

*above – french bread with home made olive oil with a touch of sugar

Those bottles you purchase in the store were picked by someone, somewhere. And that person, most likely even picked up a few blisters along the way

I have felt lost in a sense of my connections with people in general in this last year, and as great as my business relationships have grown, there’s been a void that I have not been able to fill. So I have set a goal for this journey in my life.

I am hoping to learn from others experiences, in life, building relationships, work, appreciating what is, over what may be, and most importantly, learning how to open my heart to a whole different type of LOVE.

With that, I leave you this photo (of me of course) next to the birth place (Petra tou Romiou) of the Goddess of Love herself, Aphrodite.