If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have embarked on something quite unusual and somewhat risky, if compared to what is considered to be normal.
At the end of November, I will be homeless. Yes, it means that I will not have a home full of furniture, with all my ‘stuff’ and I will not have a regular place to sleep and eat and live, and that is absolutely perfect. This might be the craziest thing you have ever heard of or it may be the most exciting idea you have ever contemplated. No, I have not lost my home (I may be losing my mind – yay!) nor have I been evicted, rejected or cast aside. I willingly and consciously wanted this and because I ‘put it out there’ several years ago, the Universe conspired to help me and circumstances dictated that it is the right time. Let me explain….
For a very long time I have questioned the way we live in our western society. The constant pressure to strive, drive for bigger, better and more became a quest that I fell into the trap of. I often spoke of how tired I felt with all the stuff that had to be done because of all the stuff I wanted and at the time, it seemed right. Perhaps because I have matured or perhaps I simply got so tired of ticking off things on my ‘to-do’ list only to add several more things that needed to be done, I no longer wanted to live this way. I was no longer a traditionalist – I was becoming a rebel and it felt wonderful!
Enough stuff, enough striving, enough ‘keeping up with the Jones’ and enough stressing over how much harder I needed to work so that I could afford more stuff. There is nothing wrong with having stuff and there is nothing wrong with working hard, but my life became one long list of things that I needed to do, have and become and I longed for something else. That doesn’t mean I won’t have things to do but it means that I get to choose the things I want to do rather than fall into the trap of mindlessly following the flock.
One day, when I woke up to the fact that I was becoming someone that I no longer wanted to be, was the day that the word FREEDOM become very important to me and I started to play with the idea of letting go of the things that seemed to be keeping me stuck. Slowly, over time, I along with my husband, started making the transition from excess to sufficient and it has been not only freeing but also liberating. We are not there yet – it is a work in progress.
So, we are in the process of packing up our home so that everything can go into storage and we will be setting out on a trip to….. who knows where? The three of us (my husband, myself and Jack the black rescue Labrador) will be hitching up the trailer, packed with the tent and some supplies and heading off to some unknown places, unchartered courses and unplanned trips around South Africa. With no safety net of having a home to go to, we have no choice but to complete what we set out to do – adventure into the unknown and trust that the Universe will guide us.
Now this may sound exciting and it is but it is also daunting, scary and crazy but I have to do it. You see for a very long time, as I explained, I have often wondered about the way society has programmed us to live. Not everything is wrong about the way we are conditioned to live but there are some things which just do not serve us and I have made it my mission and my passion to find out what works and what doesn’t. This ‘drive’ to understand why some people are happy and some are not, has given me the confidence to not only help, teach, guide and coach my clients in a very fulfilling way, but it is the same energy that has brought me to this place of freedom.
A wonderful book by a teacher/philosopher called “Freedom from the Known” was written by Jiddu Krishnamurti many years ago and reading that book sparked an interest in me that has led me to try and find my truth. From when we are little, we are told to get an education, get a job, get married, have children, work, retire when we’re old and then prepare to die. Oh, and sometimes, if we’re lucky, we may be told that we should be happy, healthy, humble and honourable while we’re doing all this living. But this rarely seems to happen, from what I have experienced and observed.
There are many people who seem to have it all, but on closer inspection most of those people are mostly unhappy, unhealthy, stressed, anxious and sometimes depressed. Seems like the formula might be wrong! These are the same people who did what they were ‘told’ would be the best way to live their lives. Hello! Seems like there might be another way to be. If this ‘traditional’ way was the truth, we would not have so many people on anti-depressants, high-blood pressure medication and anti-anxiety pills.
I certainly don’t have all the answers and what I am about to do may be as crazy as the idea of doing all the ‘right’ things but what I do know is that living the way I used to live did not work. We had it all too. We ticked all the boxes. We were the successful couple with all the toys. Fortunately, moving to the coast in 2008 was the turning point as the economic melt-down smashed our dreams and our business, it created an opportunity to do things differently and nine years later, after many ups and downs, we are at the point of no return.
As promised, I will be revealing all the details of our adventure and letting you in on the secrets. I know that we will experience many moments that matter, whether they are wonderful or weird, peaceful or painful, I know they will be life-changing. It will be our first foray into the ‘wilderness’ and we will be back in town to continue with our ‘normal’ lives mid January. I know that when we return, not much may have changed but everything will be different!
I invite you to follow me on my new page in FB called “Moments that Matter” which is in the process of being set up and where you can follow my adventure into the unknown!
PS: Although I am preparing for my adventure, I am still coaching one-on-one either face-to-face or online, so let me know if you need to connect for a session or two before the crazy season begins. I would love to help you
“The Summer Day”
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper? I mean the one who has flung herself out of the grass. The one who is eating sugar out of my hand; who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down?
Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes?
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is but I do know how to pay attention; how to fall down into the grass
How to kneel down in the grass
How to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields
Which is what I have been doing all day
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
– Mary Oliver
