Just a little life update and rambles about things that have been on my mind lately…
Do I get my van done up, or do I go for an upgrade? As much as I absolutely love my little yellow van, the body is in need of a lot of love. Unfortunately, the price of that love is basically a decent deposit on a newer van. One with luxuries like power steering, decent speakers, actual music and better storage. I’ve also been looking at my van and thinking that when I eventually meet someone who wants to come on road trips with me, there’s not exactly a lot of room for another human in there right now.
It’s also a bit of a fabric bomb at the moment. We only really get a few months where hoodies and jeans can be worn up here, so they’ve all been dragged out from under my bed and now look like a clothing firework has exploded through the van. Which, to be honest, is driving me nuts. I like a clean, calm space and currently my van is definitely not that. There is only so much creative storage one woman can invent before she has to admit she probably just wants a slightly bigger van.
I’ve also been thinking about the bigger future. Do I keep doing seasons around the country, working here and there and exploring a few more places, or do I eventually set up camp somewhere? Right now, I’m feeling pulled towards finishing my Zen Thai Shiatsu training, getting myself a mat and taking it on the road while picking up work around the country. There’s something about that idea that feels really bloody good. Guiding, travelling, writing, bodywork, meeting people and seeing where life takes me next.
I’m also building Adventurous Souls, which currently feels like a website with some kind of mysterious, unseen potential. I can see it eventually leading me into consulting around the wellbeing of tour guides, but from the perspective of an actual tour guide. Someone who knows what it’s like to work ridiculous hours, hold space for twenty different personalities, drive hundreds of kilometres, solve six problems before breakfast and still enthusiastically point out a koala. Not someone sitting in an office who once did a webinar about resilience and work life balance.
I think my iron levels are back up too because I am FULL of energy at the moment. After a good six months of feeling tired and having the world convince me it was perimenopause, I’m actually feeling bloody great and sleeping properly again. Creatine, sea buckthorn oil and iron seem to have got me feeling human again, which is fucking wild. I’d forgotten how good it feels to wake up with energy and actually want to do all the things.
Saying that, I’ve noticed I have almost zero tolerance for low vibes at the moment. Whinging, politics, doomsday conversations, people who seem determined to convince everyone that the world is fucked. I’m pretty quick to flip the script back towards the fact that every morning we wake up, we’ve been handed another day of being alive. There is still sunshine, ocean, music, people to love, places to go and things we can actually do something about.
Touring has somehow got another lease on life too. I’m going into each trip and doing my job wholeheartedly as myself. I don’t even bother trying to hide my weirdness anymore and it’s so fucking liberating. Do I see ghosts? Yep. Do I lucid dream? Yep. Do I listen to podcasts about astrology and shamanism and spend my nights meditating? Fuck yeah! I used to think I needed to edit some of those parts of myself depending on who was around me. Now I really can’t be bothered and it seems to be going well!
Do I watch the news or know exactly who is doing what in government right now? No fucking idea. They say ignorance is bliss, but I don’t actually think I’m ignorant. I know what I need to know. I see the desperation in people who want someone in politics to swoop in and solve their life problems, and I see why younger people are pissed off and protesting against politics that feels increasingly divisive and Trump-inspired. I understand why people are angry about tax brackets and the cost of simply existing. But I can also see that this isn’t just an Australian problem. The whole world seems to be going through some kind of giant identity crisis, and I’m not convinced absorbing twelve hours of outrage about it every day is going to make me particularly useful to anyone.
So instead, I listen to podcasts about astrology and shamanism. I meditate at night and visualise myself standing in front of rooms full of people, talking to industries about things that actually matter to me. I see myself writing books, travelling around the country, doing work that feels meaningful and sharing the road with some gorgeous man who is clearly taking the scenic route trying to find me. Seriously, I might need to send out an SOS soon!
But underneath all of that wondering about vans and work and men and where I’m going to live and what the hell Adventurous Souls is going to become, right here, right now, with the birds chirping outside and the sun shining, life is pretty fucking good.
Oh, and the boat I was on last week got love bombed and surrounded by breaching humpback whales, the weather has been amazing and last night a tawny frog mouth sat above my van being all adorable. Actually, there's whales everywhere right now, and dolphins!
Actually, life is really fucking good.
Now I’d better go book that trip to Bali.
