To Be or Not To Be Pt 2: me, 2 cats, 17’ trailer, 3 months, 8866 miles

Hello, fellow Seekers!

From early in my life, I felt called. I knew that I was an intuitive, healer, and teacher. I’m coming to this new work from my authentic self.

My purpose is to be in alignment with who I really am, my truest self, and in alignment with the Universe. My mission is to help you access your deep, true self, and to get in alignment with that Higher Self and the Universe, whatever that means for you. I want to support you in living as your aligned Self in this challenging, physical reality.

I’m so glad you’re here. This is part two of To Be or Not To Be, a little bit about my story, which I have come to see as a hero’s journey. In part one, I shared with you some of the struggle, frustration, burnout, and restlessness I experienced that brought me to change.

I got to that place where I was bumping up against the wall. This has been a pattern for me. I bumped up against the wall and had to do something. I had to take some kind of action.

That’s what led me into this whole change in life, getting the trailer, and traveling. That was preparation for the hero’s journey. Friday December 30, 2022, the financing finally came together for the trailer. That day I stuffed the car with camping equipment, my two adventure cats, and headed for Rice, Texas to pick up my little trailer.

This is a big country! My route was more than 2500 miles from Washington State to Rice, Texas taking a winter-friendly route. All in all, on that three-month trip, we covered 8,866 miles.

I had some destination ideas, and most of that went according to plan. But as you might imagine, life happens while we’re making our plans. I didn’t have any critical problems along the way, for which I was grateful. But lots of things went differently than I had planned or anticipated. But lots of little things that I had to deal with. I was learning to tow a trailer, maintain it, and to maneuver and back it up. I was an older woman by myself travelling with two cats. I must say I was proud of myself because I got quite good at back that trailer.

Let me back up a little. I often get a tarot or astrological reading around my birthday. It’s fun and an intuitive tool that helps me create a vision for my next year. They usually affirm things I already know and that is helpful.

So, I had a reading done in fall of 2022, beginning my 60th year, and just a couple months before I was to leave on my trip. Perhaps the most important part of the reading was a consistent theme of “You’re protected”. Now, I know that does not necessarily mean nothing bad will happen. But it gave me this sense of confidence that I was resilient, I was smart, I was a good problem solver, and the Universe was supporting me.

I knew I would figure out anything that came up along the way. That was great comfort when I ran into frustrations. There had to be changes due to the weather last winter with all the rain and cold in California and the Southwest. I had to make some route and destination changes because of the weather. You might imagine it could be hard to find reservations in the Southwest in the wintertime. I had to be creative in my problem solving and it worked out. It worked out great.

During this process, it was important to me to be in nature. So that’s where I planned all my longer stops so that I could be outside. I was mostly in the desert or along a reservoir or river. I camped for a couple of weeks along the Colorado River, which was a fascinating experience. The Colorado River is a highly managed waterway. I watched it lower by several feet every morning and then rise again late in the day.

I stayed in places that still have some wildness. I saw and heard coyotes most days. They are such beautiful creatures. I heard owls at night. I didn’t know wild burros were so common in the desert. They all made their sounds, calling at night. It was fantastic.

And the desert blooms! The bright flowers across the landscape later in my trip were magnificent. Just being outside in a place that’s more spacious and natural than in the middle of the city was so good. A different type of quietness. Natural sounds rather than mechanical, human-made sounds.

I was living in my tiny trailer with my two cats, Venus & Neptune. You’ll see pictures of it and them. Venus & Neptune did not like the car or the trailer. They were used to having the freedom to go outside and in as much as they wanted. But, on the road, they had to be on leashes. We eventually got better at it and more comfortable. It was stressful for a while because they didn’t like it and I could only walk one at a time. They were funny.

Happily, there were no dramatic things that happened on my trip. And yet, the process worked on me, and nature worked on me.

I was working as a psychologist at the time. I had my regular clients doing virtual sessions. I learned a ton about traveling and working. I couldn’t work on travel days because there was too much involved, and I was tired at the end of a driving day. I also discovered that I had to identify workdays and off days at a location. I didn’t allow enough time at some places because I ended up working all the days I was there. Still, I had quiet time in nature, and I had a lot of alone time.

I remember when I drove over the Pacific Coast Range in Northern California. I got to the trees and to the ocean again. I remember the strong smell of pine, forest, and salty sea when I made the first stop back at the coast. Ah, home again. This is my place.

I realized during that last day of driving up the coast that I had, and was, changing because of my experience.

This was such an important trip. I took big risks at every step of the way.

· Choosing to go after a dream.

· Preparing myself for it.

· Having to figure out all the details and logistics.

· The financial challenges.

· Traveling by myself.

· Figuring out how to live with 2 cats in a small trailer and to make them happy.

· The unknowns all along the way.

· I felt a new confidence.

· New openness to uncertainty.

I came home feeling a little more in rhythm. Not completely, but a little more in rhythm with myself and having been in those natural environments.

I felt a peacefulness that I hadn’t felt in a while. At home it was about working as much as I could within my energy limits. There was always pressure about money, taking care of a house, trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I’m old, retirement, all the cultural pressures to things certain ways.

I came home freer from that, in a way I could notice, and in a way that my friends noticed.

I got home April 2nd, 2023, and I had no idea what would come next. That’s what I’ll share with you in part three.

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Most of all, remember to…

Love yourself,

Act like it,

Share it,

And that will Change the World!

Be well,

Dr. Inis