Time is free — but it’s priceless.
You can’t own it — but you can use it.
You can’t keep it — but you can spend it.
Once you’ve lost it — you can never get it back.

— Unknown

Earlier this year my life seemed to be constantly throwing me transitions, pivot opportunities, and choice points. Though the last three years of learning to navigate a pandemic has been a season of chronic change, this year has presented bigger challenges and decisions for me and those I counsel and support. My mind loves a gnarly issue, and my spirit is always filled with a can-do-spirit, bent in a positive direction. However, I am finding this year the task is a steeper climb. I am discovering that how I use my time and who I devote myself to are very important choice points in a life that is now past its mid-point.

• Can you relate?

So acute and numerous were the fork-in-the-road decision moments that I even considered a small tattoo that would state: “Let it Go; Let it Become.” Luckily, as the tattoo artist sat in my home and sketched the imprint on my skin, I did my more rational-self review of my body and mind and realized I was currently living the transition whirlwind so I didn’t need to memorialize it on my skin.

Instead, I’ve bought many pieces of clothing that shout captions that mirror my emotional state.

Right now, I am wearing a baseball cap that says Pure Heart, Dope Soul and a hoodie that proudly states:

ALASKA Where men are men and women win the Iditarod printed in all capital letters.

I am a walking billboard for positivity and change. I am also in the tsunami of transition affirming my core beliefs to myself and the outside world.

There is so much swag available for purchase that fits my need, I wonder if it is possible that I am not the only person feeling a little untethered after three years of a new way of approaching life — let alone that I am traversing the final chapter of my formal career year and charting the course for what lies beyond?

My feet are grounded yet my mind is searching for understanding.

• Are you having a similar experience?

I went to see one of the blockbuster summer movies and it has literally occupied space in my mind since.

I try to find meaning in every situation and lessons from every experience. Now with the provocative messaging from the summer movies, I am also questioning how my life has been influenced by forces beyond my circle of influence. There are too many thoughts that are more about the picture in my life’s rearview mirror than about the clarity of what is ahead.

Maybe I have too much time to think quietly, observe, and noodle.

However, it is good times. I am on a special vacation with special friends on an adventure that broadens my horizons and fills my mind with scenic vistas to last me well into the next few years.

My friends and I are on a trek and cruise in Alaska.

I hope that you have made time for a vacation this summer and taken a break from the routines adopted during this strange time.

I have taken myself out of the structure and surroundings of my daily life and transported myself (and too much stuff) on a journey to new places, which has also become an exploration of myself and those around me.

By taking myself out of my well-managed (controlled) container of life/work, I have discovered the liberation of letting go. I quickly translate these somewhat awkward moments into lessons.

By transporting myself into a new environment, I am finding what I know and what I don’t know.

• Have you ever had this experience?

• Have you had it lately?

I didn’t realize how programmed I had become, leading to comfort, efficiency, and a lifestyle I can balance. However, what I DO realize is that I learn best when I am out of balance. Right now, after a week in the interior of Alaska and the first night on a ship that was rocked by large swells, I am really out of balance. My head and heart are both happily dancing in abandonment, but I couldn’t be happier to pick up some of the routines of my daily life like typing into the keyboard of my laptop. At least it is on a desk next to the veranda that overlooks the sea and soon a glacier.

I traveled long distances with fifty people, some of whom have become great friends and adventure buddies. I found an Australian couple that helped me revive the important touch points of my Aussie past.

I am the only single person in our larger group and am surrounded by happily partnered people. It is a very fun immersion into a lifestyle I have yet to explore. I am part of a smaller pod of ride-or-die buddies on the trip who make each day rich in shared love and experience. All within a larger space (the ship) to explore and meet many more potential friends among the staff and guests. I like the saying, “The world is my oyster.”

I am now out in the world. I didn’t realize how limited my travel had become during COVID. I am grateful to be out in the larger world learning new things.

If you will indulge me, I would love to share some observations and lessons from the first week of being untethered from my home-base lifestyle:

Immediately I discovered that despite hours of prep and planning, I am very rusty in the packing competency. And very attached to my ‘have something for every opportunity’ packing strategy. As I was exposed to three other more practical approaches to travel packing resulting in small and less weighty outcomes I mentally danced through comparison (hard on me), then moved into aspiring to new standards (love a challenge), hugged my habits and defended my bulky approach and landed in accepting the choices that I have made in all that I have dragged for a week with a fresh take on what I might do differently on the next trip. I also find the humor in my habitual state. I have an outfit for every situation and weather condition but have been wearing the same outfit every day because of comfort. I have discovered that I don’t need variety or something for every situation….I am happily purchasing new clothing along the way with cheerful sayings. The ‘Denali Dog Sled Team’ long-sleeved tee shirt is one of my new favorites.

• Can you see yourself in my story?
• Do you have a travel mate who has a similar approach?

I always benefit from stepping away from the day-to-day and putting myself out into the world.

I have discovered how much I have needed this stimulus and have missed the experience traveling provides.

My journal is filling up with advice for myself (and maybe something you might find valuable):

• Make time to refresh your soul and feed your spirit.

• Find an adventure that will help quiet your mind, then let go of any self-imposed life-baggage.

• Put yourself out in the world and maybe discover a piece of yourself under a glacier.

• Reclaim the kid in you – and share your adult behaviors with others.

• Play, Laugh, Eat, Lounge, Sleep, Walk, and Rejoice!

• Brave the wilderness of your outer and inner worlds.

I can stop writing now. A tray of breakfast and coffee has just been delivered to the suite. This is a lesson in taking advantage of the niceties in life.

I am a grateful girl who is still responsible for schlepping her own luggage and who becomes a better person after her daily facial mask and cup of coffee.

I wish you an opportunity like this to find the core of who you are and what lies ahead in your life.

Leslie

“Once a year, go someplace
you’ve never been before.”

— Unknown