Reflections at the Fishing Pond (aka, Returning Home from my Cross-Country Road Trip)

My campsite by the pond in Crossville, TN...

Here I am, in Crossville, Tennessee, listening to the bullfrogs talk to each other, the tree frogs chirp, and various insects and even birds in song as the moon comes out  over the fishing pond in one of the most beautiful campgrounds I have ever visited.

It’s the last night of the phenomenal solo road trip that I took from North Carolina to New Mexico and back.

Now, I have a LOT of blogging topics that will be covered from this trip, but tonight… well, one thing stands out as I reflect on the past week.

Many people I know and have met were surprised that I would venture to drive 2/3 of the way across the country by myself, camp by myself… and enjoy it all the way.

Every time, my question back to them was, “Why?”

Besides the typical, “Aren’t you scared to camp by yourself?” (No) “What if something happens to the car?” (I have a cell phone and AAA, and I’m not afraid to use them) and those other menial questions, there were the ones that perturbed me a bit, like, “What are you going to do with all of that time?” and “Don’t you think you’ll get bored?”

Every time, though I didn’t reply this way, what I WANTED to say was, “Are you KIDDING me? Me, all to myself, for a WEEK?! Hallelujah!”

Today, we are so overwhelmed with electronics, with being connected 24/7/365 – having to check email every 5 minutes, having to have the cell phone on all the time – that part of the challenge is that it’s like we don’t know how to be alone with ourselves anymore.

I have embraced this trip like the highly treasured gift it is… because instead of going straight from A to B in the shortest and quickest way possible (which is what I usually do), and inserting work somewhere along the way, instead I’ve truly stopped to smell the roses, figuratively and literally (though the literal part would more likely be that I stopped to smell the honeysuckle… fully in bloom in many places this time of year). I can’t tell you how many times in the past week I simply pulled over to the side of the road to get out of the car to soak in every bit of a view or a place… whenever and wherever I felt the need!

Besides the 2-day retreat I attended in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I also visited friends and relatives along the way, and I got to see, experience, and celebrate parts of the country I have previously only flown over or through without taking the time to celebrate the nuances of each area.

I checked in once a day with my husband and family at home, but the rest of the time… well, I was exploring me, without distraction. I only checked Facebook last thing before bed and first thing in the morning, and I didn’t even look at email at all. Instead, I really looked around me, connecting with and marveling at the absolutely magnificent beauty our planet provides for us every day (which we very often ignore) …and most importantly, I looked inward, at myself.

It was the most enjoyable week I’ve had in I don’t know how long… and the most enlightening. I can’t even begin to tell you how many synchronicities I’ve realized, and how many dots have connected that I didn’t even know were supposed to connect… and the funny part is, I know they’re not done connecting yet! The after effects of this trip will continue on well after I return home tomorrow, of that I’m sure.

And for those of you who will read this and say, “I just don’t have the time to do something like that…” “I don’t have the money…” or a hundred other similar reasons NOT to do something along these lines for you… guess what? Neither did I… but I CREATED it (and actually was Guided to). It was the best thing I ever did.

Part of the purpose of this blog is to help people unfold what’s within them, to rediscover themselves and realize how fully powerful and divine each and every one of us is. However, if we can’t just turn off the computer and put the cell phone on vibrate or turn it off completely… and if we can’t take a few days on our own, while also trusting ourselves to be capable enough to take care of ourselves, no matter where we are… then how can we know, love, and explore ourselves and what’s inside of us?

The 2-day retreat I attended in New Mexico was with a woman called “Little Grandmother”; her name is Kiesha Crowther, and as much as I’ve “seen” in terms of visions, I was amazed at how much of what she said was exactly what I needed to fill in some gaps and tie some of those pieces together. However, one of the many areas in which she and I already seem to be very synchronized is the importance of all of us remembering how to live from the heart and from love instead of from fear and anger. And where that all starts: By fully accepting and loving ourselves…as we are, as we are happy within ourselves, and not by dependence on others, including the opinion of others. Kiesha had a great quote she used on this topic that she attributed to her “tribal grandfather”: “It’s none of your business what other people think of you!” I LOVED that, because how true it is! Let people think what they think; all that matters is that YOU are defining yourself, without judgment and with full acceptance and love.

I can’t even remember the last time I had a FULL WEEK to myself… to plan as I wished, to go with the flow, to explore new places and people. In the process, I had a wonderful time… and as much self-work as I have done, I actually learned a LOT about myself, as I am today, right now. And I have come to terms with some parts of me that I didn’t even know I still needed to come to terms with.

In return for my exuberance about the entire trip, like attracts like: I have met only the friendliest and most helpful people throughout the duration, regardless of where I have been (more on THAT later…). Also, in one week, I have driven through, seen, and stopped at amazing and absolutely breathtaking places in our country, including Hot Springs Mountain in Arkansas, the cattle ranch plains of Texas, the various types of mountains from Western North Carolina and Tennessee to those in New Mexico abd Colorado (including the AWESOME Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado), the grassy plains of Kansas, and a mixture of everything in between. I have felt the distinctly different energy in different towns and different areas… and I have enjoyed every single moment as a moment in itself.

So, tonight, as I sit in the quickly encompassing darkness while gleefully listening to the symphony of nature going on right outside of my tent, at the pond, I realize I’m simultaneously a little sad and happy to be returning home tomorrow… but of everything, I realize that this week’s experience has been the perfect exercise in living moment to moment, completely in the now, and taking time out to enjoy every bit of it… and every bit of me. In preparation of returning to the “every day” life, I am bound and determined to remember to enjoy and savor every moment as I have done in this past week, because it’s those joys that allow us to fully blossom into all of who we really are… which is what the Road to Awakening is all about.