Giggles of a Wanderer

Do you miss the sound of your own laugh?

Can anyone tell me when I last laughed like this? If it is not frustrating it appears to be hilarious. The things that would have had me fuming before had me giggling today. Ask Mama C… or Brain… or Logan… they all heard me today. I don’t know if they realized it, but I heard my giggles and wondered where that was coming from.

It sounded foreign, alien, like I was drunk or something. The thing is, I don’t drink anymore. I am so in love with my life and my journey that everything is bubbling up in gushes of happy giggling. I don’t know who this person is that got extremely lost and just laughed through it. I don’t know who this person is who got misdirected by the GPS and somehow lands in the middle of a gorgeous park and can actually enjoy the view!

20150610_194032So there I am, lost, wondering if my friend has also moved in to the wilderness, and I see this view. At one point I would have gotten back in my car, Facebook-ed something annoying, and blown his phone up waiting for true directions. Instead I snapped some photos and imagined if this were Jurassic Park, what it would look like to see dinosaurs down there. In my mind I could see the brontosaurus dipping its long neck to drink from the water, the triceratops are running on the far grass and there is a rustle in the far trees as the T-Rex waits his turn to drink and eat some prey.

This feeling of peace and rightness with the world overcame me. It was like being wrapped up in a warm womb-like cocoon. Fuzzy cotton candy coated satisfaction with life, it tasted pretty sweet.

Often non-Iowans have complained about Iowa being boring and only cornfields… but I love to break it to you… THIS IS IOWA! Jester State Park in Polk County, Iowa. The cool thing is that prior to today, I would have agreed with those non-Iowans. Now I am experiencing Iowa in a whole new way. I am experiencing life.

So wanderers, today’s guidance to you is to find your bliss, you’ll know you are there when you can’t stop the giggles. It will seem like someone else is laughing from inside you, but this is you. It is just what it feels like to be doing what is right, for you. Ignore the negativity and worry that others share. Be cautious in your steps, but do not fear leaping when it just feels right. Find that wild person inside yourself that is intuitive and loves freely, set her/him free and follow them. And especially when before you would have acted in fear, frustration, or anger, do exactly the opposite. Stop, look around, imagine, take the time to value who you are, in the midsts of such a crazy savage world.

200 more miles to go in the next 30 hours. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me.

Signing off from Jester Park, Granger, Polk County, IA.

 

 

Grass is Greener

I think thus far I have heard the word ENVY as often as I have heard the word WORRY when it comes to what I am doing. Ironically often those words are from the same people. I just remind them that the grass is always greener on the other side. If they truly wanted to do what I am doing, then they can wander without traveling. They can wander in the depths of their souls and search out how to be happy.

The first tool to being happy is to accept your circumstances. I honestly would not be on this physical journey if I could not accept some circumstances and change others. I had a room mate bail, which left me with an issue about keeping an apartment. At the point that I would have fallen apart from that, instead I just redirected my plans to include no apartment. I had a job that I just struggled at because I preferred to be elsewhere and so I changed my circumstances. Each person can do that without being so drastic as to up and travel with all their necessary possessions in their car.

I however am walking in Blue Grass… not green. So the grass is always greener on the other side, but I prefer my blue grass. Though anyone can do what I am doing, I am working on doing it in a way that others aren’t used to. It is not to be understood, envied, or worried about. As I said earlier this week, everything happens for a reason. I look at my life right now, how I feel, what the world looks and sounds like after the last week and I find that I am at peace in a way which I have never found.

My heart has stilled, as has my mind, I am not rushing off to accomplish things that seem overwhelming. I had to remove almost everything in order to still my life. I don’t want green grass, I learned that many months ago. Green grass does not work for me. However I would love for everyone to join me in the blue grass, in whatever way that looks like for them. There is no reason we should not all find peace in our lives. This is not a race. It is a journey.

Tonight is my last night in the Cedar Rapids area for a while. I look forward to beginning my real travels tomorrow and have loved have this short period of time to warm to the idea. It is exciting to know that tomorrow… tomorrow I won’t be signing off from Marion, IA. Till then!

Signing off from Marion, IA.

Wander-ful Drives

Today I drove two hours to make a 45 minute stop and drive back two hours. The drive felt like such a short period of time. As I am wandering in my vehicle it feels that me and my vehicle are becoming one. It is effortless to hop in the car and drive, all the while enjoying the beauty of the world around me. Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was not able to just get in the car and enjoy the music and the open road. It was always running from something, or hurrying towards something. Even the trip to Sioux Falls and back, it felt like I was on a time table. I had a little bit of leeway to enjoy the falls (pictures are posted!), but otherwise that was 400 straight hard core miles.

I want to enjoy my drives. I am heading out in a few days and I plan to take two days to go 350 miles. It might sound silly, but I am forcing myself to slow down enough and enjoy my life, the sights, the people I visit. It is not a race, we each reach the finish line when it is our time.

Today’s trip was significant in the fact that I found out I am still on the hook to the Navy Reserves for a few more months. I have had a lot of heart break in regards to my service, but more proud moments than sad. However it has been a while since I have been able to recall those proud moments. Mostly I have felt jaded, bruised, abused, and rejected by a system that I loved with all of my heart. I was not loyal in the standard definition, but I certainly was good at following orders and excelled at caring for my sailors, so showed a form of loyalty that I may not have felt, even through the hard times. I did my job with pride and was willing to fight and die for anyone I deployed with. I could drag up my baggage about how it felt like no one had my six (watched my back) or how they mentally injured me on my first tour, but I won’t. You want to hear some dark and twisty story of a tour gone awry and a young girl damaged? Well sorry, this is a story of hope, one that I choose for myself.

I lived inside that dark twisty story for many years. It drove me to do things I was not proud of, it made excuses for being someone who did not feel like me. It was a place where the predator inside me was able to come out and wreak havoc on the world around me. It ruined my love for the Navy. Ironically as I lost my love for the Navy I fell more in love with the twisty dark veterans I was meeting. We found consolation in each others arms and stories. At some point though, we all have started moving on. We still share stories, we still tell our dark and twisty in the deep shadows after a long days work, but we are doing so to figure out how to get better, how to be better. As I am transitioning out of the Navy the positives have started coming back to me, and the dark twisty things have taken on the hue of an old scar. I made my decision about being done with the Navy, and as I walked into that reserve center today I realized that I truly had made a great decision for myself.

It didn’t destroy me to know that I have to check in for a few more months, or that I have to wait for their processes to occur. I have moved on, whether the ink has dried yet or not. I am moving on. I am wandering. I am moving forward. The Commanding Officer said to me that he understood my decision and respected that I was doing what was right for me. That meant a lot. It is hard to close that chapter after a decade, but when the ink dries. I will be okay, because I am ready for this. I am a wanderer. I am healing.

Signing off from Cedar Rapids, IA

Everything Happens for a Reason

When wandering there will be moments that are upsetting or discombobulating. You will wonder if you should turn back. Take a different path. Run the other direction. It is in that moment of wandering that you realize you need to slow down. It is time to stop, no steps back, no running, just sit down for a bit. PAUSE.

Whatever horrors or beauties your life has seen to bring you to the point of wandering, you have no need to go back. You are most likely right where you need to be. Always remember that everything happens for a reason, especially when wandering. Wanderers are trusting God, their environment, their support system to help guide them to things that are meant to happen for them.

I love Robert Frost, he wrote a poem that you are certainly familiar with. The Road Not Taken… I won’t quote it to you here. Many people are familiar with the beginning and the ending. The middle is where the wanderer stands, looks at both avenues and has to make a decision. So if you are wandering, which road do you take? The commonly tread path or the overgrown forgotten path? There is no wrong answer, because everything happens for a reason.

Robert Frost indicates that because of how life occurs there is no going back and taking the other path. So when you decide your path, you cannot turn back and take a different direction, you can merely branch at the next fork. You most certainly can sit at that fork and take a pause before making a decision.

I am on the precipice overlooking a deep decent into something that others do not understand. The words of concern, worry, stress, and fear that my loved ones have shared with me make me want to turn back. Make me want to not take the road less traveled, make me not want to leap. In my heart of hearts, my wild woman dances and exclaims in joy at what I am doing. So when it comes down to it, I love my support group, but I am taking the road less traveled and I know it is perfectly fine because everything happens for a reason.

I am a wanderer, because I don’t understand the reasons, but life is happening and I am learning to pause instead of react, and it has made all the difference.

Signing off from Marion, IA.

Pause While Wandering

When a person is wandering sometimes they will not appear to be doing much. Americans are notorious for always doing something. Always shopping or working or watching movies, etc etc. While at Save a Warrior I learned that for good mental health and self-care a person needs to pause in life. They suggest pausing daily for meditation. They also suggest that when things are busy to ensure you stop and pause.

After the emotional high I had this week I definitely needed a pause. Time where I am doing nothing, but just being. So that is what today is. I have spent my day pausing. Enjoying. When I purposefully slow down enough things start to smell differently and look differently.

I went to a community dinner and helped clean up after people finished eating. It was a day of just slowing down enough and facing some social anxiety and meeting new people. It felt good to go and do something for others in the community. It was super random too, I just showed up, introduced myself and asked to help.

When wandering, expect to be a little boring. Not everyday is going to be waterfalls and conferences. I mean that stuff is exciting, but when you are wandering you are searching how to live a more peaceful and ordinary life. So there will be some boredom and moments of pause that seem extremely dull.

While wandering, when I pause, I can enjoy the stories of others. When I was in middle school I had a friend, S, who was home schooled. We moved after a couple of years and thanks to the wonders of Facebook she reconnected with me after high school. I adore her and through her have gotten to know her sister K. I have been enjoying the use of my K’s couch, where I have taken some time today to just pause. She is a wonderful mother and Hair Stylist. I really enjoyed her friendship before this, which has been budding over the past several months. Now that I am staying with her for a bit I am getting to know her better. I can see what a beautiful heart she has. She opened up her doors to me when I told her of my crazy plan to wander. She has been completely supportive and excited for me. I really appreciate how awesome she is. She is a single mom of two beautiful girls who are a reflection of what an amazing mom she is and the family she comes from.

I had the opportunity earlier in the week to watch the girls, M and E. M tells me… I’m going to marry a daddy someday. Because I want to be a mommy when I grow up, I want to play with my kids and cook food. Would you want to be a mommy someday? I said yes and she said, would you be a mommy who works or doesn’t work? I said I would probably work too. She said, that’s okay, I would do the same thing.

E is a couple of years older than M. I was doing dishes and E insisted that they help me rinse and dry the dishes. M wasn’t up for it, but E jumped right in splashing water all over the kitchen. She was so proud that she got to help wash the dishes. There was so much respect and joy in this little girl.

My experience watching the girls reminded me about how I want to have kids of my own one day. Seeing as I am choosing to not date at this time, I know that it won’t be happening soon. I truly hope that when I have kids one day I can raise them as well as K has raised her girls. It truly is a joy to be able to stay with my friend, and I can’t wait to move on and visit more friends.

I definitely have to say that the best part of wandering is being able to pause as much as I want or need. Today was a day where I could just be. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store.

Signing off from Marion, IA

Wandering Emotions

When one begins to wander they will experience a multitude of things. There will be a major financial shift, to ensure that bills are still paid, but that one is free enough to wander. There will be a social shift, leaving friends behind, going to see friends who are spread across the county, and making many new friends. There will be an emotional shift as well.

You can wander in life while having an apartment and a day job. The curse is, if they are consuming you, then you are truly not wandering anymore. I have a pretty mean anxiety issue, so getting rid of those two things would in theory lessen my anxiety. There is a hardship to wandering. It is not simply throwing off the old rags and donning new beautiful robes of peace and introspection. It is hard work to learn to care for oneself after so long of just going with the flow. The anxiety does not just go out the window along with certain responsibilities. It is not because of others, it is because of how I function that I have anxiety. I have to retrain myself to function in a new way.

I struggle to be able to define who I am other than by what I do. This week I have been on a high with new experiences. My emotions have run deep. I have found myself bored, definitely lost, not knowing what to do next, and even wanting to turn back time and return to the safety of a 9-5 and $500 apartment.

I won’t lie. I have been trying to meditate daily for months and have not been perfect. I need to meditate though, it helps significantly. I am getting back in to it, but it will take time for my brain to change again, meditation is not a quick fix. It takes consistency and commitment to do it daily. This morning I meditated at the Falls in Sioux Falls, SD. Did you ever consider that there are actual falls there??? Turns out I had not until someone mentioned it, then I realized of course! So I visited and meditated. All felt right with the world. My inner Wild Woman was dancing in the sound of the falls and the birds in the trees. Then I got in the car and started the 6 hours drive back to Cedar Rapids to swap out cars. I was on a life high.

I love Team Rubicon and sharing our story. It always shocks me how much of an impact my words can have on others. I am often cocky to cover up my lack of confidence. Now I am just trying to be honest and I guess that makes me more confident than I feel. It was a good couple of days. As I was driving home I was enjoying the sun in the sky, the use of a rental car blue tooth, and the fact that I was on the road. It seemed so blissful.

At some point it occurred to me the date and that I was expecting a phone call with some news about a position I very much desired. As the hours passed and the phone call did not come my anxiety heightened. My Bitchy Princess managed to lock the Wild Woman in a cage and was taunting me about my qualifications and capabilities. The Bitchy Princess is not a very good person. SERIOUSLY! If you could be inside my mind you would think I live a soap opera. Here is this picture in my head of this wild woman who looks like a wood nymph being trapped in a steel cage while this evil looking Princess Peach was dancing around her taunting. I could hear my Wild Woman underneath the Bitchy Princess. The taunting was loud, but I worked on tuning her out. I was struggling to not give in to the Bitchy Princess who’s best suggestion was for me to go hit the bar. I stopped drinking 47 days ago, and it’s not been easy, but it’s been right for me. The last thing I need is to give up on myself. Which is what I am very used to doing and that is why I don’t want to drink anymore. I drank because I didn’t care about myself, I just wanted to give up on myself.

I AM CHOOSING LIFE NOW! I want to care about myself, even when that Bitchy Princess tells me not to. There are so many people who care about me and won’t give up on me, why should I not be one of them? I value others so much more than myself, but if I don’t care for myself then I cannot truly help others, now can I? These are the emotions I was dealing with before I began this journey. The reason I am now wandering is because I am looking for the space to find these answers in myself and make them the better answers. I’ll never have a perfect psyche, but at least I can choose to believe in my extraordinary self.

So to lessen my anxiety I spent some time with people I know, completely sober, and I shared what was on my heart and how I know that things happen for a reason and it won’t stop me from being who I am to not get this position. I still had not received word one way or the other, but I was fantastic at making myself feel like the worse candidate for any job ever. As I was getting ready to leave my friends I got a call. I saw the number and wondered what I was going to hear when I answered. It was the comforting voice of the person I was hoping to hear from. He was calling to inform me that I was not selected for the position. The thing is, now that I knew, I had no more anxiety. It was definitive. I had no issue accepting the answer, but the waiting is what I am terrible at. I extremely respect the man who called and he was so gracious and is a great mentor. It was not a terrible phone call, and does not change what I plan to do with my life.

After I hung up the phone I realized just how tired I have been for weeks, telling myself I hadn’t gotten my hopes up, and then of course I was let down. I had so secretly gotten my hopes up that I didn’t feel I could call anyone when I was anxious. It took a lot for me to go see the people I saw instead of going to a bar. They are awesome and support me though, so many people support me in this journey I am making.

I may not have gotten this position, but there will come a time for another position that I am right for. In the mean time I cannot let me ego and bitchy princess over shadow the amazing work I have done this week to help other people, or the honors I have been given in being asked to speak to groups or return to a conference. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t know what will happen instead, but at the end of the day… my people were still there, still holding my hand, still loving on me. I am still who I am, and the anxiety was merely for a moment compared to my whole life. So through this process my emotions will wander, and I will have more days such as this which feel like a rocky road.

However I am walking in grass that is blue and not green, many won’t understand, but some will walk my path with me, or support me from their side of the fence. When you wander and remove the average and the normal from your life and just plan to be a Wild person, and no longer a savage person, then emotions are normal and life is okay.

Signing off from Marion, IA.

 

Wandering v Reality

It is important for any wanderer to remember that while wandering, you are not to ignore the “real” world. It is all reality, this trip and the transformation to wanderer is a new reality, but reality is still there. An important question for a wanderer to ask themselves is; What role do I play in the reality which differs from mine?

It may seem quite average and realistic that I would go sit at a conference and share TR’s mission with those who may one day need us or may one day want to join us. It is unsurprising to people in my life that I am here.  This is where my wandering interacts with the average everyday world. It may seem that my wandering is not going to be aimlessly lost in the wilderness wandering. It is though. All of life is a wilderness, if you ask me. It is often inhospitable, I commonly wondered if I could survive within it, and it certainly has become more and more uncultivated. It is either a wild world or a savage world.

Obviously I am not trekking off to Mars, or some distant galaxy to escape it. I am merely working to create a wild world within the current savage world. A Wild World is full on intuition, serving others, being expressive, and free, living and breathing. My work with TR over the last 20 months has been wandering as well, it has been a Wild World for me, and my new wandering is merely letting the Wild Woman within take over and show me a whole new world (yes I am humming Aladdin in my head).

So for the new to my life reader… Team Rubicon is a veteran based disaster relief organization. They take the skills and knowledge of veterans, first responders, and civilians and provide them a place to be purposeful in helping communities recover from disaster. That may sound like I stole it from the website. However it is true. It is also a part of my elevator speech when people ask about TR. I have written blogs or short narratives for TR a couple of times on their webpage. So this blog would in theory sound redundant, right? I don’t think so, because a story is like the circulatory system. There is something at the heart of it, with arteries branching out and veins branching back in, constantly moving the story along, even if you can’t always see the other parts.

I heard a speech last year which told this story:

A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore.

Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean. “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.”

The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”

After telling this story the speaker said that we each may have been starfish, that the people we can help are starfish. We can’t reach them all, but if we can make a difference for even just one, then we have done well.

The initial reaction for me was that we should save them all. Throwing them back in does not ensure they will not get swept back on to the beach. I felt that in the metaphor we needed to place rocks in their path once they are back in the water, so they have something to cling to, and change the ocean tide so they don’t get thrown back up on the beach. Otherwise why don’t we just let them die on the beach in the first place. I have been accused of being jaded, and that one I could agree with. When I heard the story my heart said “What then?” What happens after the starfish are back on the beach, or once their in the water? Who is caring for them then?

There have been dramatic changes in who I am and how I look at life. I have been wandering the whole time while feeling trapped in a box of work and housekeeping. My mind was wandering, was trying to understand why we can not save them all. I once had this episode of heavy drinking, at the end I was sobbing proclaiming that “I cannot save the world, so what’s the point?” Probably a sign I should quit drinking, but some folks would say that a drunk person can only tell the truth.

My whole life I have been wandering lost trying to find a place where I can make a difference in this world. After my Iraq tour I felt like I would never make a difference and I honestly had stopped caring. I was hurt and broken and wanted the world to go F*** itself. There was still this little light lit inside my soul to help others though. So despite telling myself I was not trying to make the world a better place I became an EMT. I started pre-nursing requisites. I continued to try and make the world a better place. It was the only thing that lifted me out of the darkness of my personal issues.

My wandering brought me to Team Rubicon and TR brought me to organized chaos. Ironically the motto for TR is Bridge the Gap, and chaos is greek for “gaping void”. Therefore they are pretty much the same. And, yes, I am a nerd. TR has not stopped my wandering, in fact it has heightened my ability to wander and opened my eyes to new areas to wander to.

So though I am wandering, I can still go to a conference, and share the amazing story of Team Rubicon. There are days where I hope to one day find a spouse, but in those same moments I know that anyone I date will have to compete with my love for Team Rubicon. So though I sit in anticipation of the day I blog to you from the middle of the forest in my tent, I am content to wander within the reality I love so much and absorb as much as possible of what good reality really does have in store for us.

Signing off from Sioux Falls, SD

Sights for Sore Eyes

Upon wandering a persons eyes are open to things around them they may never have noticed before. ***Note to self*** Stop and take pictures/videos of these things, because later when you come to write, you will have lost some of those thoughts.

It is amazing how much more beautiful the world appears as I am purposefully paying attention to something other than a specific job task or my cell phone. Driving Highway 20 from Waterloo, IA to Sioux City, IA there is a bridge that when you look over either side as you drive across all you see are beautiful lush green tree tops. Somewhere, some distance, below you is the Iowa River. This is my third time over this bridge in the last year. Next time I will find a way to go below the bridge and discover what trolls or treasure I might find hidden there. The beauty from above may merely shadow the even greater beauty within.

Six hours later I arrived in Sioux Falls, SD I stopped off at the motel I am staying at during this conference. It was before check in time, but I figured I would see if I could check in before heading down the street to the Convention Center. The attendant at the front desk had this odd expression on her face as she pulls up my room number. I inquired as to if everything was okay and ensured her I could return later if she was not ready to check me in. Her response was a treasure of insight into hotel life.

She tells me that the guest who was in the room prior to me had decided he was in need of the towel bar, he had taken the bar home with him. As she tells me this she stutters, realizing how unusual this may sound. We then discussed the potential for the headline “Motel guest beats associate to death with towel bar.” It got a good laugh and also free Wi-Fi.

I proceeded on to the Convention Center to set up my vendor booth. I am in Sioux Falls to attend a conference and share more about TR with potential members and community leaders from eight different states. I have done a few conferences before and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Today was a slow start day. Once there I got turned around and did things backward. To the same end as if I had done them forwards. The great thing about Wandering is that it matters less what order I do things in, or how often I miss-step. I am taking the time to correct those steps and so there is no need to be perfect when I have more time to make mistakes.

While wandering, a wanderer will learn a lot about themselves. I learned that I don’t have much to talk to firemen about… or maybe I’m just tired from my drive. I however do not understand what hose goes where or which nozzle to turn. And no, that’s not a metaphor! I however was up very early today and am probably slightly dehydrated. WANDERERS… Don’t forget to Hydrate! Wandering can be exhausting!

No matter what happens in the day of a wanderer it is ordinary. Occasionally it is ExtraOrdinary. The reality of life is that there is a pretty high chance tomorrow I may learn how to talk to firemen and figure out which hose goes to which nozzle.

But the day is not done, after dinner I returned to the Motel to finally enter my room. In selecting the hotel I selected I was working at ensuring the most cost effective trip possible in order to save TR as much money as I could on this trip. Remind me to be not quite so charitable next time. I don’t believe I’ve stayed at one of these Motel’s since I was a kid and the room unfortunately smells of smoke and the A/C is not very effective.

Interestingly enough this Motel has not been updated since I was a child at least. The room houses the same comforters I recall from childhood with the fuzzy Phillips screen box TV. The bathroom sports a “Beam me up Scotty” shower, a round tube in the corner. It reminds me of my parents shower, when we lived in West Union. Yes, I surely think this space will do just fine.

In general a wanderer cannot be picky. This is part of the journey. There is no reason to place myself in unbearable situations, but when one is wandering and lost and looking, we must expect uncomfortable situations. Despite the smell and it being a little hot I find that I have a bed to sleep in, and will get a shower tonight. I may not have a towel bar, but I do have my handy dandy anti-rape knife from Afghanistan… a story for another time. Though I am relatively sure I will not need neither a knife or a towel bar during my stay.

Signing off from Sioux Falls, SD.

And then… I Flew

“It is worse to stay where one does not belong at all than to wander about lost for a while and looking for the psychic and soulful kinship one requires” – Women Who Run With the Wolves

A wanderer is not something that someone suddenly becomes out of nowhere. I believe that if you wish to wander, look back at your life and realize that many times you have wandered, but then always gone back to where you were expected to be. I wandered on to a FOB (Forward Operating Base) where Team Rubicon  was getting ready to help flood victims in Lyons, CO, and fell in love with an amazing organization. As a kid I would wander in the woods, or the library, or wherever I felt like. I believe I was always meant to wander, free, flying, enjoying. Somewhere along the path to adulthood I lost that intuition, that soulful wandering which made me feel alive.

In an effort to over come a multitude of health issues, both physical and mental, I have wandered in to many a program, office, and support group. In February I wandered in to Save A Warrior in Malibu California. I could spend hours defining what they helped me figure out for myself, and as I wander I will share many of those tales. Today’s story is more about why I wander, and it may resound with you and make you want to revisit your wandering self.

There was this Recreational Therapy exercise, where I had to climb a 30′ pole (hooked into a harness) and jump towards a trapeze bar. Below were two people belaying me, people I chose to be my support system over the coming year. Before going up I was asked, “What do you plan to leave behind you when you start climbing?” I knew that question was coming and kept thinking of the things in my past I wanted to leave behind. All those nasty habits and traits which were not who I wanted to be. I told them that I wanted to leave behind the Bitchy Princess who has bitter words for those who try to help, and tells me constantly that one day I will kill myself. She believes that in this world there is nothing good and there is no point. I chose to not let her have control anymore. I was going to jump free of her. My instructors response was that my Bitchy Princess was not going to go without a fight. It may feel like she is gone, but she will stick her ugly opinions in when I least expect them. He said that this leap was my first step towards removing her from my life.

I climbed that pole with such certainty of what I was doing. It made sense, it felt right, I was just going to go up to the top and I was going to jump, no need to think it over, no need to be afraid. I reached the top of that pole and with all the bravado and ego I had in me made a good show by immediately sitting on the top of the pole.

BravadoIt felt great, I felt strong, I felt capable.

 So picture this, sitting 30′ in the air, facing the Pacific Ocean as the sun was just beginning to set, everything seemed right and possible with the world. Then someone yells “Hey Vic, now you have to stand up!”

WHOOSH. Out goes all that bravado and ego inside of me, and I begin to shake. Now was the real test, not the climb up the pole, not sitting on the top enjoying the view, but standing on my own two feet on what felt like an earthquake. I am not sure what made the pole shake more, me or the wind that day. I got to my feet and stood there, putting my arms out to my sides, soaking in the rays.

 Peace and Shakiness

Then comes the cheer from beneath me as they tell me to let them know when I am ready to jump. I had to take a few breathes, and then a few more breathes. I considered turning around, sitting back down, climbing back down the pole. I also knew that after so many months of work that if I turned around that was probably it for me. If I couldn’t face leaving my Bitchy Princess behind and moving forward with new information and a new path, then there really was no hope for me.

I closed my eyes when I finally jumped. I tipped the trapeze bar, which in itself is a story you will hear at another time. Jumping from that pole and leaving my bitchy princess security guard behind me was okay, because I was flying and I was learning to trust not only other people, but also myself.
Flew

I learned many lessons that week, but two of the most important came from this exercise. I learned that it is okay to trust other people. More importantly, I learned what it felt like to fly, be free, and leave the shit at the bottom of the pole while I just fly.

Upon returning home I realized that I would not stay aloft in the air, like in this picture, if I didn’t start doing things completely different in my life. I have shared this story often and it always ends with “And then I flew… and it has made all the difference.”

Rules to the Wandering

There is just one rule, and honestly, it’s more of a guideline.

MAKE THE RULES UP AS YOU GO ALONG.

The great thing about writing a guidebook for wanderers, when the rules are made up as I wander, is there is also no specific path to follow. I finally settled on calling myself a wanderer because I am purposefully traveling without any set goal in mind, except to experience life and reintroduce me to me. I have given up my apartment, given away or sold most of my material possessions, and quit my job.

I called myself a bunch of different terms as I was leading up to this point, trying to find the one that fit, but my friends and I kept Googling definitions or taking polls of what people thought a word meant. Some examples:

GYPSY – I’d have to steal and do sorcery. (I can’t pronounce latin… wingardium leviosum… I think)

NOMAD – I’d have to wear a turban and herd some form of livestock. (I’d probably forget to feed them and they would die)

Hippie – I’d have to smoke pot and stop washing my hair. (Eww)

Walk-About – I’d have to wander in the Australian Outback and possibly take Peyote (50/50 agreed on the latter point). (It’s expensive to go to Australia and is Peyote even legal???)

Vagabond – Negative Connotations – Steals stuff too apparently (I just got rid of my material posessions, why would I want more?)

Homeless – Now this is the one term that SO SO SO many of my friends have agreed upon. Vic has gone crazy! Is she Suicidal? She would never do this kind of thing. It’s just a dream or a joke.  I may not have a single address to return to each day, but I have so much more as those same people have made sure I know I am welcome to stay with them as I travel. My home is where my heart is… with each of my friends and family who care enough to be worried.

It really has felt like people found this to be an impossible move. Though a lot of that may have also been my internal psyche. I am so average and responsible it is almost funny. I have always held a job, been the one to ensure the bills got paid, taken care of my own business with very little help from others. It didn’t make me happy though, it never brought peace to my life. So I have finally realized I have to do something so spontaneous, so off the wall, and so unlike me, in order to find me, find happy, and really LIVE my life. So, in spontaneous fashion, 12 weeks ago I started planning my escape. I am nothing if not detailed.

About 8 weeks ago I realized that I should have not set this 12 week plan in place. 4 weeks ago I was chomping at the bit to run free in the fields. 3 weeks ago I just left for a week to go clean up a disaster zone, because I was ready for this. The last two weeks were manageable but partially unbearable. I got down to the wire with closing out the apartment. I have these two little beings inside me, not the typical angel/devil combination. I call them Princess Bitch and Wild Woman. You’ll get to know them more as I wander. Needless to say, they are not friends and were fighting over actually leaving or not. For someone so average to take such a risk, well that’s not only stressful for those around me, it was internally stressful.

At some point during the last 12 weeks I realized that I really hate planning ahead for things, so I am taking them as they come. Thanks to Team Rubicon and storm season things are moving quite quickly in to place and I am just being fluid.

Here I am though. The apartment is closed out, my stuff is packed, and people are waiting on the edge of their seats to see what I do next. You’ll just have to check back tomorrow to see where my wandering takes me.

Signing Off from Marion, IA

 

To Wander is the purpose.