Have YOU experienced the magic of Bali?

Pretty sure that’s from a Yoga Barn add…pretty sure that plus seeing the photo of Eat Pray Love author Liz Gilbert on Wayan’s wall is what swayed me to say 80 bucks-sure why not!? To a reading and healing…. Yes, literally the same healer Liz Gilbert went to.  Actually, perhaps it was the human ecologist in me, but I cared way more to talk to her about how being thrust in to fame has changed her life than I did my actual reading.  She basically said it was ‘different’ …not better, but different….which is like asking a woman if she’s okay and getting a reply of ‘fine’…  But I guess if you think about the nature and origin of the work, it isn’t for show or money.  She eluded to the fact that people expected certain results from her….thinking that magically she would lead them to love or solve their broken hearts when that’s not what she does. 

 

Anyway my reading….the whole ‘fortune teller’ thing was a sham…she told me I was a smoker, that my parents were divorced ‘long time’, that I have been in love 6 times, that I am passive….pretty much all the opposite….she did say I had low BP and a long life line…nothing new there….also that I was a 9^th generation reincarnation and that I’d marry at 35…Everyone says I’ll marry at 35, so I’ll probably intentionally place my wedding not when I’m 35 even if I did get engaged around then just to prove a point.  Everybody thinks its creepy…if it were 33 or a random number I’d think so, but 35 is a round ‘older than usual’ age…which I think is all they really see. 

 

So even though that was a bit odd, she ended up feeding me copious amounts of leaves and naturopathic pills in between rounds of my leaf exfoliation….yes, legitimately leaves in boiling water…she made me strip to my underwear and exfoliate my whole body with these leaves.  I couldn’t help but think in the moment “ If I were famous, I would for sure be being Punk’d right now” as I half-nakedly twisted to try and get the leaves on my mid-back.  She told me I’d be itchy at night from the toxins….that DEFINITELY happened….it felt like 10000 ants all over me-EW…I went back for a lymphatic massage and more leaves in the morning…my waist shrank 2 inches, my travel acne (thanks to humidity and pollution) Had cleared, and I actually felt amazing.  All in my head? The first 5 people I saw commented on how good I looked, including the laundry lady who saw me the day before…who knows, but for the weightloss and skin alone it was worth it, nevermind the totally hilarious experience.

 

Might I add….I LOVE paying 3 dollars for all my possessions to be washed, dried, ironed and folded…why can’t it be like this at home #firstworldproblems, I know.

Square One

I’m leaving the country in two weeks from today!  Scary wouldn’t really describe it…terrifying might.  Yes, of course I’m excited…but I’m leaving everything comfortable for potentially years.  No matter how brave or bad-ass you are that’s still an uneasy thought.

It’s been an interesting planning process with changing dates, paths, travel partners, and what it is I want to do while I’m away…should I work? where? what should I do? do I volunteer? take a tour? write a blog? RTW flight or one ways? cooking classes? what languages to learn?…you get it.  In addition to this the list of things that just need to be done: vaccinations, moving things home, selling things I won’t need, seeing friends & family, getting visas, passport, int’l drivers license, living will (really scary), health insurance, etc.  So, even though I’ve been unemployed simply trip planning and socializing for the past 6 weeks I’ve actually been quite emotionally, mentally, and at times physically exhausted.

I would also like to point out that I’m not travelling to ‘find myself’, fall in love, or avoid big kid life.  They are all potential benefits/outcomes, but I’m travelling because I want to.  I’m a workaholic and I know that once I get into a career I won’t be taking vacations longer than a weekend trip to the Rockies for a while.  I feel like these are years in my life where I can be selfish and a little irresponsible. Elaborating…I don’t have kids, I’m not in a relationship, my belongings are at my parents house, I don’t have a career, and I have a long working life ahead to re-build my savings.

As far as time goes, I always wanted to be a doctor.  That isn’t happening any more.  So my theory is that I could travel around the world for a while, come home, do Grad school if I want, and still be younger than I would’ve been after my residency.  I see the holes in this rationalization (trust me, my friends are buying houses), but I’m going to go with it anyway.

That being said, this quote from eat, pray, love still keeps me a little more at ease with leaving everything I know–including every plan and goal for my future I’ve had since I was a child.

The Physics of the Quest. A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you. -Liz Gilbert

But while I’m in my pre-quest mode I’m going to continue soaking up the comforts of home which may-or may not-include doing all research from my comfortable bed wrapped in my Egyptian cotton sheets.