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Lessons learnt on the road

Lessons learnt on the road

Category Archives: Walk the tightrope

Walking the tightrope in Primark

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Be in tune with your environment, Walk the tightrope

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The map tells us it’s a 15 minute walk from the train station to our Airbnb room. We could take a tram, but that’s more money, and time, working out how to buy a ticket, and where to get the tram. And it’s only a 15 minute walk right?!                                                                        I have 20Kilos on my back and another 10 on my front, so we are taking it slow. We know 15 minutes won’t be 15 minutes. But we like a challenge, and we’ve no deadline, so can take all the time we need. About half way there, we’re chatting, moving slowly forward, and satisfied we are walking in the right direction, and then…. my shoe breaks! Not just any shoe, but my beloved flip flops, purchased in Australia; designed in such a way, they’ve been almost all my feet have worn the last 6 months, no matter what my activity. Other than my walking boots, 6 months is a new record for a pair of my shoes on this trip!

the beloved flipflops in action

The beloved flipflops in action!

I’m fairly calm. There are worse situations to be in when breaking a shoe. Whilst having 20 kilos on my back is slightly annoying timing, fortunately the 20 kilos does include, another pair of sandals. So I do a quick change and find a bin for my Aussie thongs.

 

shoes fixed in Inida (1)
shoes fixed in Inida (2)

                                      Getting a pair of shoes fixed in India, back in July 2016….

At the rate I go through shoes, I do not feel comfortable being down to one pair of sandals, so it’s fairly high on my agenda to buy a new pair. Having only done 2 weeks of paid work in the past year, and not having any plans to do more any time soon: buying a pair of shoes is not as simple, as it may have been once in my life. I am comforted by a recent piece of knowledge: Primark has arrived in Germany. I can buy a pair of flip flops without it costing more than it would in the UK. I can rest easy!

But then I remember…… I don’t want to be shopping in places like Primark any more…..

Don’t worry this is not intended as a lecture, for why you should stop buying cheap crap, if anything I’m promoting freedom of choice here…..

Many things have led to this ideal for me. I remember being amazed the first time I set foot in Primark in Luton, all those 12 years ago. And just like everyone else I spent more in Primark than I would have in any other shop, because everything felt like such good value. It took me a few years for the penny to drop as to how their clothes were so cheap. Since that time, I have flirted with the idea of giving up Primark (not that they are the only shop that employs cheap labour, but perhaps a symbol of this for me), but have always ended up concluding, if everyone else gets to benefit from cheap stuff why shouldn’t I?

primrak photo

My travels have cemented for me, that I do want to take action that supports greater equality throughout the world. I see myself as a global citizen, far more than I ever did before; having now seen some of economic injustices around the world.

Whilst in India, I made the decision to commit 10% of my salary to organisations working to reduce global inequality. I knew I had to write it down and commit there and then. I knew once I got home, my desire to do so would reduce, and I would forget the importance. However, since that time, a lot has changed about what we are going back to: I’m not necessarily going to have the salary that I did. So if I never have a salary again, will I never give my 10%?  For now, I want to be able to keep travelling: which means I’m prioritising my money for this goal. How do I prioritise between my want to travel and my want for the world to have greater equality? I know which goal is easier to achieve!  I have now decided it will be 10% of my income, however that income comes in, however small… But then when is it going to start from, when does this new way of life begin? If we want something we have to be disciplined with ourselves. I chose that my ‘travelling stopped’ and my new way of doing life began on the 1st of June.

If anyone has any suggestions of organisations working towards this aim, please comment below! For more on can we end poverty- check out this cool video 

So what does this mean for Primark: I get to spend more money travelling if I buy cheap shoes from Primark, but am I letting another priority of mine slip……?

On the 1st of June, I walked into Primark in Cologne. It’s the first time I’ve been in such a big, discounted clothes shop in over 13 months. I’d made a deal with myself; I was only buying shoes. It was a Thursday, but the three floors of the shop were all packed. It took me a good 10 minutes just to find where the shoes were. My backpack is already heavy, so even though I was drawn to the pretty dresses, I was able to resist. It was slightly harder to avoid temptation walking past the bras, as the one I bought in Australia is losing shape fast, but I managed. After searching through the 10 aisles of colourful cheap shoes, I select a pair for €3 and make my way to the tills. As I queue, I enter into a new battle with myself; not to buy the android charging wire, even though it is so cheap, pink, and mine only sometimes works..!

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All of this reminds me of the other reasons, I don’t like shopping in Primark. I find the demand on my senses to spend money, I haven’t decided to spend, stressful. I find the bright, colourful, endless things to buy, stressful.

I’ve always found it stressful; but when living in the UK and wanting to quickly buy something in my lunch break, without having the time to weigh up a more costly purchase, convenience always won out over the stress. Now I don’t have to live my life like that.

Our Guiding Compass point #BeKind, started off as ‘do no harm’, taken from Buddhist philosophy, which I’ve engaged with a bit, along our travels. ‘Do no harm’ has become increasingly important to me. A helpful way to think about each action I do and its effect on others and the earth we live on. However, when writing our Guiding Compass, we wanted them all to read in the positive (Do’s not Don’ts), so this became #BeKind.

Coming out of Primark that day, I thought about #BeKind, and how my actions that day had fitted in with this. We need to #BeKind to ourselves, at the same time as being kind to others and the universe. On some days it is kindest to myself not to shop in a shop like Primark. On other days I have more resilience against the attack on my senses and the kindest thing to do, is let myself have some cheap convenience. Okay, so my ideal is to shop-second hand as much as possible.  I see this as being as kind to the universe as I can be. But I’m also OK with the grey, and that I don’t have to make one decision for the rest of my life. I can #BeKind in whatever way feels appropriate at that time.

Which is where #Walkthetightrope comes into play. I want to be a positive contribution to society, and I am responsible for being kind to myself. I want to be myself and a part of wider society. To do all of this we have to make some compromises, sometimes. And that’s OK. #Walkthetightrope is all about tuning in, to how these compromises affect us, and listening to the choices that allow us to #BeKind to ourselves and others. We won’t get it right all the time, balance takes practice, dedication and the guts to know, you will fall off sometimes, but you can pick yourself up and keep journeying forward.

walk the tightrope baby

What one year of travelling taught me about my need for maps, a coffee pot and ‘home’

02 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Be in tune with your environment, Walk the tightrope

≈ 2 Comments

I like maps. I’ve always liked maps. Claire and Gemma would regularly, but briefly, lose me as we walked around the streets of Asia. Probably 9 times out of 10, it’d be because I’d stopped to look at a roadside map, or the map on my phone.

lucy map on phone

I have realised more than ever my need to know where I am. I need this map of my geographical area, but perhaps also for my life. Geographically, I need to know where I’m going, and how I will get there ‘the most direct way’, but in terms of life maybe not so much. Of course, I’ve also learnt I also need to know where I’m coming from, and where I need to get back to, where is my home?

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By the way this app Maps.ME is an absolute must for any would-be travellers out there! Or just people walking in their countries; you can download maps for the country you’re headed to. It often has info on walking tracks, loos, cafes.. And it’s totally free. I’m not getting any commission honest!

My need for a coffee pot – At the start of our trip, after a few weeks of enviously, watching, our fellow continental-European campers, make fresh ground coffee each morning in their variously shaped coffee pots; I decided I wanted my own. So then comes the saga involving my, (less than successful) but very much deliberated purchase of my own ‘coffee pot’, which… turned out to be astronomically bad at making coffee. This was about half way through, our three months budget-camping around Europe, accounting for every cent spent. So it was a big deal.

coffee pot
coffe pot

It turns out after multiple cups of very grainy coffee, that I couldn’t seem to avoid, that it was actually a milk frother.. which may, just have been where the problem lay… So, needless to say, me and the (ahem) ‘coffee pot’ went our separate ways.

I hesitate to add that Claire had asked me why, when it said ‘Cappuccino maker’ on the box I thought it would be a coffee pot; but sometimes when you want something that much, you make it be what you want it to be. Claire obviously didn’t let me forget about that incident for a while!

Well jump to a few months later, and me and Claire are in South East Asia, coincidentally reading Committed. A follow up to Liz Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love , which in part, describes her and her partner’s journeying around the very same countries we happened to be in. Well, we both burst into laughter as she describes her and Felipe’s arguments whilst on the road, resulting in his conclusion “I need a coffee pot”. Now, I think I and Felipe shared a similar sentiment in the need for this; not just literally for the benefit of the good fresh coffee every now again, that’s actually affordable; but also the benefit of having something that is ours, a sense of our ‘home’ regardless of who’s actual home we are in, it’s our creature comfort.

committed

The kitchen sink? Well.. almost.

We essentially have ended up with a mini travelling kitchen. Yes, along with the mini coffee pot; comes a mug each, a mini chopping board, a washing-line, a higgledy-piggledy set of Tupperware, at least one bag of pasta/rice, herbs/spices, a lemon squash concentrate, that’s been going since we bought it in Perth in November, tea bags, a supply of biscuits, in previously stated Tupperware, and 2 forks (recently reduced from 3 to 2 by airport security, who only noticed one of them)!

This has meant, we are not travelling as ‘light’ as we would sometimes like to.  Especially when lugging your backpack on a hot sticky walk.. However, it’s meant we’ve been easily able to feel at home, wherever we are. It also saves us money; we can turn up somewhere for one night only, and be able to cook a simple pasta dish, without having to purchase expensive items from the small corner shop, or eat out, like you might do on a more typical holiday. Not to mention, it can be nice to know the hygiene state of the mug you’re drinking from! Thanks to fellow travellers, we’ve also, often ended up being given freebies (dry foods, tea, coffee, soaps, laundry soap etc), which again saves time and money, and we return this back to the travelling community when we can.

tub tastic times
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homw with washing line

A home – Anyone who’s travelled for any extended length of time, will know about travel fatigue. Not just the actual tiredness from flights, lack of sleep or time changes, but the weary feeling of adjusting to new sounds, sights, places and faces day in day out. A certain amount of change is great, I think its vital. Whether we’re at home doing a 9-5 job, bringing up children or the other side of the world living our travelling dreams. But in any scenario, at least for me, I also need some stability and consistency. And this is where Workaways have really benefitted me. I write about the concept of Workaway and its rewards here: Travel for free? There is such a thing as a free lunch* (sort of!). It means I get to rest my head on the same pillow for 5, 7, 10 even 35 nights in a row, to call it home. Home for me has become having a favourite park or favourite walk, knowing where I can buy my necessities, and having time to hand wash and dry my clothes, or even use a washing machine if I’m lucky!

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So what I’ve discovered about my needs over this year, is, in part, why we have decided to find ourselves a camper! To have a travelling ‘home’, a balance of certainty and change is our dream. Watch this space!

What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part D: Conclusion by Poetry

25 Thursday May 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Find your ‘work’, Share yourself generously, Surprise yourself and those around you, Trust, Uncategorized, Walk the tightrope

≈ 3 Comments

After a week of work, setting off on foot, with her tent on her back, my Mum texted me, asking me if she had to go back to work tomorrow: I replied straight away with “no”.

After further thought, and reflecting on the previous day spent with a former colleague, who also quit her job, sold her house to travel, and our conversations around work I then replied with this poem:

We trade our souls for security,

To be successful in society

We trade our souls, and get the job done

Pretending busy and stressed in fun

 

We moan and complain, but never think to change the game

But we are all secretly hoping tommorow will bring change

 

We trade our souls and give our lives away

We buy lots of toys to make up for the mistakes

 

We never have enough

There is nothing left to give

Hide my stuff

What is mine is not his

 

We trade our souls for security

We think we are happy in society

 

We trade our souls for security

Quick a new job, will bring me a better day

 

We pour in what we’ve got, and get very little back

And forget to notice when we’ve run out

 

We trade our souls for security

We have what others don’t- we should be happy

 

We trade our souls for security

We get 25 days holiday

 

We trade our souls for security

Let go, let god and find your way

Image result for let go and find your way

What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part C: Redefining work, a movement?

24 Wednesday May 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Be interested in and grateful for those around you, who are all on their own unique paths, Be open to opportunity, Find your ‘work’, Seek out the people and ideas that make you the best you, Share yourself generously, Surprise yourself and those around you, Walk the tightrope

≈ 2 Comments

Working_9_to_5

Fabulous film, well worth a watch!

 

I’ve already written about my  brave plunge becoming the travelling privileged, and how this helped me to rethink what I think of as my value. But what does all this mean for my future? Would it be totally irresponsible to not have a regular income, savings and a plan……?

                                   80% of people are unhappy in their jobs 

                                                                                                                                        Forbes

I didn’t know I was one of them.

So I was stressed, tired, felt under appreciated, but all that is normal right?

I mean, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I’ve always liked the people I’ve worked with; I’ve mostly felt like I was at least making some positive contribution, and I do love new challenges.

Me and Lucy had thought we were conscious, we believed we were choosing to work 9-5 Mon- Fri now, to save up so we could both work part time in the future. Somehow, I knew working part-time was a good goal, even if I could not recognise I was unhappy in my job.pills

The truth is, I was aware of the idea you didn’t have to earn your living working 9-5, but I wasn’t ready, didn’t have the head space to really engage with it, and believed that even if others could do it, it wasn’t really an option for me.

But then.. I quit my job, I did have space, and I have engaged, with a lot!

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claire airleie
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The movement redefining work

Whilst doing a workaway in Airlie Beach, cleaning cabins for a maximum of 3 hours a day, 5 days a week (we never did 15 hours a week!- luck again!) for six weeks; I took a hot, sticky, uphill cycle to a library to print my Parkrun barcode  (How could I have forgotten such an important document?) There was a pile of old books, which I thumbed through and one called out to me, ‘I Could Do Anything, If Only I knew What It Was’  by Barbara Sher.

Sher believes what we are good at, doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what we should be doing. The book has exercises to help people break through ideas they have absorbed from society,  early childhood and family expectations about the work they should be doing. I think she is brave to have attempted to fit all this in a book, rather than just suggesting everyone has long term therapy… but she pulls it off well. Many of the exercises have helped me to explore, what I enjoy and get energy from, and what I do not want to do for work.

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From Airlie beach, we travelled to another workaway near Cairns, and met an ex-monk (yes that inspiring guy again!). He shared with us, Live Your Legend, a programme encouraging people to “find the work they can’t not do”. He also gently suggested we start a blog. It’s been 3 months since we met him, but that ex-monk sowed the seeds for lessonslearntontheroad.com in many ways. He also gave us, possibly the best piece of advice anyone has given me: “Anything that you can organise better than someone else is of value“, he gave Subway sandwiches as an excellent example of this!

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Beautiful creature, climbing a tree in Cairns

In fact, Workaway has also enabled us to meet people earning their living by doing things they’re passionate about (such as organic farms, retreats, outdoor gear shops, cooking schools)

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Perhaps it was the universe conspiring, perhaps it was what I was choosing to engage with, or perhaps just Facebook tailored-advertising(!), but all of this helped me to notice a movement:

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It seems more people are wanting do make an income doing something they enjoy. Life Coaching has become a big thing, with people wanting to find their passions, and the number of new businesses in the UK reached a record high in 2015. 

However my book telling me I ‘can do anything I want to do’ was written over twenty years ago! She predicts, there will be a change in the work force, which will result in more people becoming experts and consultants in a specialist field, and that freelance work will become the norm. So these ideas – of doing what we love and making a profit from it – have been round for some time.

So… what happened to this ‘we can do anything we want’ movement? I remember at school feeling like we were the generation who had missed the IT boom, we weren’t going to be so lucky. We were also going to have to pay tuition fees if we wanted a university education and who knows what kind of pensions we will receive? Perhaps it was the recession hitting that made me feel that a 1 year contract at a job I wanted, wasn’t good enough; the goal was a full time permanent job, the scarcity made one even more desirable!

But maybe we don’t have to give up 9-5….

I want to acknowledge I know people who are very happy in their work. A good friend is a teacher, who after some time out rediscovered she loves teaching, and it’s totally what she wants to do with her life.

I also know people who have strong boundaries around paid employment. Their time at work is okay, they leave work at work, and have time and energy left for their real passions; choirs, rowing clubs, am dram, allotments, cycling, working a 9 day fortnight and travelling every other weekend!

When I was a sensible professional I remember a more senior colleague saying to me she used to love to cook, but doesn’t have the time or energy anymore. I should have heard this for the warning sign it was, instead I left this job for what I saw as a promotion, managing a team just as unhappy and undergoing as much change as the previous workplace.

About halfway through my travels, this ex-colleague got in touch to tell me she has a horse! You don’t have to quit your job and go travelling. Her horse has completely changed her life, she has to have a boundary on work, because her horse, the thing she loves, is depending on her. Her horse is her real ‘work’.

There are also some positive movements happening within work places, such as social enterprises, where employees are stakeholders and are more likely to have their individual value appreciated. Brene Brown is encouraging workplaces to ‘dare greatly’ and become more humane; by becoming workplaces that shine light on shame, rise to challenging conversations, are innovative and value individual’s contributions. If you are a manager, a teacher, a parent or any kind of leader I strongly recommend you give her book a read ‘Daring Greatly’ (we were already reading it, but the ex-monk also recommended Brene Brown to us!)

There are other conversations about work and value going on today, for example Finland has begun trials for a universal basic income, as a solution to fewer jobs and automation. But with all this noise about different ways to make money – and people even making money by promoting ways to make money – how do we know what to listen to?

And what does all of this mean for me? If my year out of work has taught me nothing else, it’s that I have the same options as anyone else. So if other people can make money doing what they love, so can I. But do I want to? and what do I love doing anyway? and how much money do I want anyway?

 

catalog working

Helping Lucy collate thousands of catalogues for delivery in Australia, getting her the sum total of.. 10 quid!

Can I make money from my real work? and is it my real work if I make money from it? Do I want to have my cake and eat it too?

Do I want to just make money doing what I can when I need to, like I did in Australia for two weeks?

 

Something in this tells me, we all have our paths. It’s useful to engage with other people’s stories, but these belong to other people. We are on our paths, and need to listen out to what is right for us.

I’ve always done jobs that are a bit jack of all trades, I like to learn new things and love engaging with as many ideas as I can. I’m OK that I may not have one thing I “cannot not do” but I’m also OK that I may, and if so I am already on my journey to finding it. But I do know I want to have time and energy to be creative. It may not always be ‘good’ but writing, drawing and making things, feel more like ‘my soul’s work’ than a salaried job, I was good at, ever did.

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Anyone who knows me, can now expect a hand made gift.

So for now I am going to redefine what I mean by work. There will be time, when I have to exchange, energy and time (amongst other things) for money or other things that meet my needs. But this is not my work, my work is when I feel inspired, creative and amongst all else free.

I’m stepping out of the norm, watching the ‘movement’ and exploring where I fit in, keeping in check what I’m happy to exchange for what value and what makes my soul happy. My lesson from this road, is that the most responsible thing I can do is do what I can to be happy. It’s one I may have to keep relearning, but it’s a lesson I am committed to!

Everyone has his or her own unique power. It is our responsibility to find that power and use it to the fullest capacity we can in the service of other people.

                                                                                                                                                Toan Lam

What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part D: Conclusion by Poetry is ready to read now!

What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part A: The travelling privileged

18 Thursday May 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Be interested in and grateful for those around you, who are all on their own unique paths, Be open to opportunity, Find your ‘work’, Seek out the people and ideas that make you the best you, Share yourself generously, Surprise yourself and those around you, Trust, Use and allow time to become more human and humane, Walk the tightrope

≈ 6 Comments

Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge the major privilege I’ve had in being able to quit my job, and have very little money worries, for over a year.

It was a privilege I chose to act upon, and it’s one of the bravest choices I’ve ever made.  In fact, before ‘that weekend’, it was a door I chose to not only keep firmly closed, but pretend  didn’t even exist, not for me anyways. I was a sensible girl, who wanted a family and craved security. That meant I would be happy if I had a steady job, and if it was one where I was also helping people, then even better!

even FB wanrs to know what job i do                                                 Even Facebook wants to know what job I do!

But I am grateful that choice did exist for me, and I acknowledge it existed because of some external luck factors:

  • I happen to have been born in a wealthy, high earning country (that said, we have met people travelling from countries, where they’ve had to work a hell of a lot longer to save a hell of a lot less, and they have managed to travel further and longer!)
  • I had access to an affordable education system. Whilst I did have to apply effort to attend (and then stay in) University, I had access to a graduate job.
  • Both me and Lucy have received inheritance money at some time or other
  • I have a saving savvy wife, which I don’t always appreciate, when I’m wanting to buy ice cream! Who enabled us to both to save whist earning. Left to my own devices, who knows what I would have spent my money on!
  • We both have supportive family and friends. Who after getting over the initial shock, encouraged us to follow our hearts. And whilst we haven’t had to use it yet, we know they have a safety net around us, should we need anything! So don’t all go quitting your jobs and living like mavericks!

 I am grateful for these things, but mostly I’m grateful I dared to take the leap. Because this was the thing that could have stopped me from ever actually living my life!

live me life

Not spending time at work has enabled me to:

  • Spend time with myself
  • Test out being creative. It took me a week to sit and write something in my journal, after we set out on our trip. This was the first time I’d written something non-work related, since leaving school!
  • Engage with ideas. Time to read all kinds of books, listen to podcasts and Ted Talks, and the freedom to really think
  • Meet people who are living their lives in all sorts of creative ways.
  • See some of the world and realise the world is not such a big place.

I also feel super lucky, that travel is easier than it has ever been before. The internet allows us to book accommodation last minute, find cheap deals, stay connected with friends and family back home, connect with other travellers and find work exchange opportunities (see no such thing as a free lunch). I was also raised speaking English, and whilst it is a mixed blessing, as I will always struggle to have the drive to learn another language, I do appreciate the advantage this gives me, when travelling.
I'm free

Travel provided me with an external focus, a level of routine and purpose, without being all consuming. I can see now, how I allowed my paid employment to consume all of my energy and much of my time. Perhaps I used work as a distraction from getting to know my true self.

Travel gave my time meaning, but the way we have travelled; slowly and flexibly, allowed me the time I needed; to be busy, to play, to think, to read, to write and to just be.

Alongside time, travel has opened my world up, geographically and metaphorically. I have been able to engage with many ideas, but I have also seen these ideas being lived out.

Of course, not everyone needs to be set free from paid employment to feel free, and not everyone has to go travelling to not give all of themselves to paid employment. But for me this was the right combination and at the right time.

So what has all of this taught me about work?

Stay tuned for Part B: My Thoughts on Value, on it’s way soon!

she travels to learn

Navigating the roads of Asia: A metaphor for life?

08 Monday May 2017

Posted by happyjourneyingwives in Be in tune with your environment, Be interested in and grateful for those around you, who are all on their own unique paths, Be open to opportunity, Share yourself generously, Surprise yourself and those around you, Trust, Walk the tightrope

≈ 6 Comments

So, why now? Most people blog during their travels, right? Not as they prepare to return.

Well, there are many reasons…

For one thing, we’ve now had the experiences, and know we have some funny, interesting, and perhaps even unique things to share from our travels. Also we’ve processed some of our experiences. We’re ready to share them.

We’ve also experienced people being interested in our stories; from things we’ve shared on facebook with friends and family, and as we’ve increasingly shared our stories to hosts and travellers we’ve met on the way. We’ve learnt we have something interesting to say, and that this is mostly received well. It’s not happened yet, but we’re also learning it’s okay if not everything is met well. We’re up for dialogue.

But mostly, it’s for selfish reasons! It’s about holding ourselves accountable. This is for us to remember how, when we’ve had the privilege of being the most free ever, we’ve chosen how we want to live our lives. Sharing it with you, is a way to hold ourselves to account.

It’s a bit like trying to navigate the roads of Asia by foot. If you were a fly on the wall with us in Asia, you will have heard Claire, at least once a day, instructing Lucy on how to manage the roads.

 

in the gutter

Lucy in the gutter!

It goes something like this:

  • “Get out of the gutter!” You’re more likely to get hit by a moving vehicle if people think they have room to get round you
  • ” Do you even know where you’re going?” Walk as if you know exactly where you’re going, and your route belongs to you, no one else. In reality we often haven’t known where we’re going of course, unless round in circles counts?!
  • ” Walk with your head up.” Walk facing the oncoming traffic and maintain eye contact with drivers whenever possible
  • “Tell them where you’re going.” When crossing through traffic; walk with purpose, communicating your path to drivers with body language, eye contact and hand signals if necessary.
  • “Come on!” Do not hesitate, trust the drivers’ skill to avoid you (they don’t want you to get in the way of their own journey after all)

Unlike in Asia, there are well trodden pavements at home, and in most Western countries in fact. In Asia, the pavements (if they exist at all..) are also used to park motorcycles, so even if you find a metre of safety, your path is soon blocked and you have to face the road.

Motorbikes on the walkways in Penang
Motorbikes on the walkways in Penang
Street art in Georgetown, Penang
Street art in Georgetown, Penang

We didn’t know it would happen, but travelling has put a major block in our road. It’s been easier to see the things we were doing, because they were expected of us, or at least we thought they were expected of us. But perhaps when we get home, the block in the path may not be so easy to see. It would be easy to rejoin the path we were on before, the path that other’s recognise as ours. A path with too few obstacles on it, to remind us to walk the tightrope. By which I mean check in with our choices, our values and our compromises, whilst having good connections with others.  Check out our guiding compass here.

So we are sharing our learning, not hiding it away, where it can get accidentally trodden on and forgotten.

We’re moving forward with a somewhat clear direction, making it less likely we get caught behind the bus and end up changing our path. Ok in reality our path is far from clear, we have few answers- we don’t even think we want all the answers! We found the joy of questions and grey areas and wish to be  forever seekers. But we do know, at least for now, the directions we do not want move in!

And we are trusting those we love, to be able to handle it. They may want to carry on their own journeys without ours impacting theirs. But they may also like to give a friendly wave, to the girls trying to cross through the moving traffic . Ok us doing our lives differently is going to cause some impact to those we love, but we want it to be gentle! And perhaps sharing our intentions for living our lives, our reasons why and the stories behind our ‘rebellion’, will help those we love, see it coming (remain eye contact where possible!) and have some understanding about where it’s all come from…. so that’s ‘why now’!

climbing over obsticals
walk the tightrope

Climbing over obstacles and walking the tightrope

Thanks for reading,

The Happy Journeying Wives, Lucy & Claire

 

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  • Home
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  • Lessons Claire learnt from that punch, out of nowhere
  • Time is a gift
  • Work exchange experiences so far…..
  • Washing up in other people’s houses
  • Live for free, as you travel the world? There is such a thing as a free lunch* (well, sort of!)
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part A: The travelling privileged
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part B: Thoughts on Value
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part C: Redefining work, a movement?
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part D: Conclusion by Poetry
  • What one year of travelling taught me about my need for maps, a coffee pot and ‘home’
  • Walking the tightrope in Primark
  • Normal, better, whiter?

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  • March 2018 (1)
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Navigation

  • Home
  • Our Guiding Compass
  • Navigating the roads of Asia: A metaphor for life?
  • Lessons Claire learnt from that punch, out of nowhere
  • Time is a gift
  • Work exchange experiences so far…..
  • Washing up in other people’s houses
  • Live for free, as you travel the world? There is such a thing as a free lunch* (well, sort of!)
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part A: The travelling privileged
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part B: Thoughts on Value
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part C: Redefining work, a movement?
  • What not working taught me about ‘work’ Part D: Conclusion by Poetry
  • What one year of travelling taught me about my need for maps, a coffee pot and ‘home’
  • Walking the tightrope in Primark
  • Normal, better, whiter?

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