Welcome to this month's edition of Adventurous Life!
In this issue:
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When was the last time you gave yourself permission to dream? And -- perhaps more important -- how often do you carve out chunks of time to dive into pursuing them?
Making the commitment to something -- half an hour a day, no matter what -- is highly admirable, but what utter luxury to fully immerse yourself without life throwing distractions your way.
For example, I was fortunate enough to be waitlisted for a four-week writer's residency program. When I learned of this, it would have been easy to start thinking "Okay, if I get it, then I have a month off to focus solely on the book. If I don't, oh well." But when I mentioned this liminal status to my supportive and determined partner, his response cut through my fatalism: "Why can't you have a retreat regardless of whether you get into the program? We must know someone with a cabin in the woods or something. It's not like you need luxury."
This struck me as so obvious an option, I was stunned. Mainly to realize how dependent I was on someone else telling me it was "okay" to make this sort of space for myself and my dreams. As if I needed some "special" reason to create that opportunity for myself. Or someone to tell me I was "good enough." Why not award myself a writer's residency?
As often happens with this sort of realization, I then began running across people who did this type of thing for themselves all the time. For instance, a woman who every year takes a one-month sabbatical without ever leaving her house. She simply takes this time off from her work, turns off her phones, tells her friends she's not to be disturbed until she emerges, and does whatever creative thing she's been dreaming about all year. So simple, so elegant a solution -- the no-cost vacation.
Not everyone can take a whole month. Not everyone can remain at home and avoid the demands of family or friends living under the same roof or nearby. But every one of us can make a commitment to carve out some reasonable (or unreasonable -- go for it!) chunk of time and simply run away with our creative selves for awhile. None of us is so indispensable that there is no solution that will let us escape with our dreams, if only briefly.
This month, start planning your retreat. Award yourself an artist's (or writer's or traveler's or whatever's) "residency" doing whatever it is you find most deliciously creative.
This is the third time Julia Bishop has used her travels to raise money for charity. She and her friend Merfyn Owen recently traveled 15,000 miles in a Land Rover from Chester, England to Cape Town, South Africa.
The trip was planned in two parts. The first leg began in August 2003 and took them on a three-week journey through Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan to Egypt, where they left the Land Rover with friends in Cairo. The second leg began three months later when they flew to Cairo and continued down through Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia to Kenya for Christmas with Bishop’s family (she was born in Kenya), then onward through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa after the new year.
Bishop and Owen prepared themselves and the Land Rover for every eventuality. “Lots of modifications,” says Bishop, who told the Chester newspaper, “‘We have got sand ladders, jerry cans for diesel, a high-lift jack, spare parts for most eventualities, enough water to last two weeks in the Sahara -- and a yacht anchor which Merv got us, to winch ourselves out of sand or mud. We are camping in the open, but in areas where there are bandits or big cats, we may sleep in the car.’”
She prepared herself as well: “I’m quite the diesel mechanic these days.”
Between journey legs, they held an African Ball at a local hotel in Chester, raising money for charity. The first time Bishop did this sort of thing, in 1996, she and Owen were sailing around the world in a ten-month yacht race...
Read the complete article on my web site.
On September 12, 2004, international Interdependence Day will be celebrated in Rome, Italy and around the world. Last year's major celebrations took place in Philadelphia, PA, in Budapest, Hungary, and in a number of schools and colleges across the US.
This project of the Democracy Collaborative of the University of Maryland began with the premise that "people -- citizens of their own communities, their nations and the world -- can and must be the driving force and the principal agents of change for a more democratic world. CivWorld's vision is a world of democratic nations and a world of nations whose relations are democratically governed.
"Our mission is to increase the awareness of our interdependence and create a new vision of what it means to be a global citizen in this interdependent world. We hope to lay the foundations of global civic cooperation and to do so we need not only civic leaders and dignitaries, but also parents, students, and children."
To get involved, visit the CivWorld web site and sign the declaration of interdependence, get information on how your school, college campus, civic or religious organization -- or heck, your whole neighborhood! -- can create your own Interdependence Day celebration this September, or learn about the Interdependence Day essay contest.
"It costs so much to be a full human being.... One has to abandon altogether
the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both
arms. One has to embrace the world like a lover, and yet demand no easy
return of love. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence. One
has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing. One needs a will
stubborn in conflict, but apt always to total acceptance of every consequence
of living and dying."
-
Morris West
The Shoes of the Fisherman
Top 5 Ideas to Inspire You This Month
- Start a t'ai chi group that meets each morning in your local park
- Fingerpaint all over your old car -- for extra inspiration, invite your friends to play too
- Jump-start that business idea you've always wondered about -- see if it flies (hey, if it doesn't, it's still an adventure... and a learning experience for the next attempt)
- Give a speech on a topic you're passionate about -- even if it's just to the mirror
- Plan a fabulous Halloween party and haunted house
"Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain."
- Mark Twain
#80 Lead a nature walk for your community. You'll meet other residents who care about nature. Once you commit to such an event, you'll also hone your knowledge of the nature in your neighborhood and discover new species of flora, and maybe even fauna, you never knew existed.
This everyday adventure is from "A New Adventure Every Day: 541 Simple Ways to Live with Pizzazz" by David Silberkleit, excerpted with the author's permission.
About the author:
Judy Wolf is a world traveler, freelance writer, speaker, and whitewater kayak instructor. She's taken numerous, extended solo journeys around the world, traveling by foot, bus, jeep, camel, truck, boat, train, plane, elephant, and bicycle to over 30 countries on five continents. She currently lives in upstate New York with her husband and border collie, where she's working on a book-length travel narrative about her most recent adventures…that is, when she's not plunging off waterfalls or entertaining the dog.
Learn more at www.judywolf.com.
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Copyright © 2004 Judy Wolf
