The End of Our Nomadic Journey
A journey of disruption and peace - all at the same time
After 6 months and 4 days of traveling the United States, the nomadic phase of our sound mind journey has come to an end. The end happened rather quickly, but still as a natural outcome of many anchors in our lives that remained the same.
If you've been following along, you know that Cadelyn is in boarding school at The Asheville School in North Carolina. She started there in January. She's truly thriving and even had a few breaks at home. She said to me when she was with me for her two-week spring break (yeah two whole weeks):
“I just love and miss being in the mountain air. Everything just feels different there."
She’s enjoying it so much, she was ready to get back.
Now, them folks up there are not playing with her. She's working hard - writing research papers on imperialism of the British Empire and Nazi Germany and participating in Saturday school almost every other week. But she's also playing hard, taking hikes and performing at the pop-up coffee shop just the other day with the guitar she "borrowed" from her sister, Courtney.
It's truly a remarkable journey for Cadelyn. She's shown resilience, growth and true authenticity and we're grateful. And we’re grateful for the guitar - thanks, Courtney.
After I dropped off Cadelyn, my nomadic journey continued. With her settled, I truly sought to uncover and release the angst, fear, worry, disappointment and trauma that I'd been carrying around since the days of COVID. I knew I wouldn't get to a total release, but I needed the steam in the pot to start boiling and releasing. So, what'd you do Lacrecia? Well, thanks for asking because there is some structure to the approach that I can now see in hindsight and perhaps it can inspire others to find their own journey - big or small; long or short.
I cut down noise. Not only actual sound, but also busyness and unnecessary activity. I had the great fortune to take the trek back to Martha's Vineyard and be by myself for about two weeks. While there, I committed to slowing down. I mean it was the dead of winter, so I kind of didn’t have a choice. Not even keeping a to do list and enjoying literal quiet - no TV, no phone, no music - for at least a couple of my wakeful hours each morning. What this brought me was clarity and the ability to hear. Hear myself, filter out foolish chatter in my own head, hear nature and most importantly others.
I tapped into my left brain. I’m so logical and outcomes oriented, that sometimes I forget I spent the first 1/2 of my life being a creative. I’ve had two reminders of that recently running into alumni from the Dekalb School of the Arts where I attended high school and danced 4 hours out of every day of my school day. Looking back, I now know that dance brought me presence and awareness before I even knew what it was, especially ballet, which was always my favorite as it required me to slow down, focus on my turn out, placement and where each movement mattered. So, sounds like I might owe a huge debt of gratitude to my dance teachers of old for shepherding me on that journey.
But while at the Vineyard, I tapped into another creative venue that I discovered in my 20’s and I returned to the kitchen to unleash my creative energy in preparing beautiful and delicious food. Yes, Lolli's Restaurant was only open for a party of 1 every day, but it was still a magical experience. I spent time at a local farm curating local produce remembering tips my Uncle Alfred, who still runs our family's farm, taught me about assessing and selecting food right from the ground. I also leaned into exploring on adventures. Driving around. Stopping at shops along the way. Talking to every person I encountered being curious about what and how they are doing because my curiosity has always been at the core of my creativity.
I strengthened my meditative and spiritual practices. A key component of this is nature, so sitting in it, exploring it, watching it. There’s many opportunities to do this at Martha’s Vineyard and I would say water has been a key part of this healing journey. I also read several books and listened to several podcasts all that blessed me in ways that pushed me towards greater awareness, simplicity and innate power. Feel free to check out items on my tap into power list:
Each of these trickled deposits into me that eventually became a stream that I could rely on to begin to get my mind right and move things forward. I continued to rely on each these when I left Martha's Vineyard and my ongoing travels took me to Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA (three times), Amery, WI, Seaside, FL and Ellijay, GA. And along each stop, I leaned into these three foundational tasks sometimes listening to something on my power list two, three, fifteen times. Listening until it was in my soul.
Here, at the end of this phase, I've reached a place of healing and strength where my mind is truly more sound. I'm more balanced. Less anxious. I’ve regained my curiosity. More knowledgeable and somewhat less fearful.
I've still got a ways to go on being too harsh of a critic on myself and having fear and paranoia around things that are mostly beyond my control.
With this phase coming to an end, we also made some key practical moves. This week was my first official week back on the corporate landscape after taking a role as Vice President, Marketing Programs at Fiserv in Alpharetta. Fiserv is a financial technology company and this is right up my alley and I'm back working with my old boss, Shannon who is the global CMO. I’ve shifted What-If’s to focus on building technologies with less front facing work that our What-If team can continue to do in the background.
And, we've officially moved into a stationary home in an apartment near Cumberland and East Cobb. Courtney helped me move in, Cadelyn's been home for a weekend and had a chance to see it, and even Nalani’s had a chance to already hang out with Lolli. We're excited and enjoying the space and amenities of apartment living - man, the apartment game has changed! These folks got all kinds of amenities - like pet spas.
I've been hesitant to make this post for fear that all of these things that have been happening might "go away" somehow. I know not rooted in logic but many have helped me see and embrace that this has been and will continue to be an amazing journey and I honor the story best by telling it.