A Doing Word…

Seneca (with sunglasses)

My favorite phrase currently is “I don’t know”. I say it with great pleasure in response to questions like:

• When are you coming home?
• Where are you going next?
• Where are you going to stay tonight?
• What do you plan to do tomorrow?

I say it most often to myself, as my brain runs off worried about this thing or that.

I’ve always been a planner who also loves to let go and wander, explore, and be surprised. I do have ideas about the answers to these questions, but as much as possible I try to leave the rest open. All this travel has been an experiment in balancing the two aspects of Facilitated Serendipity while maximizing the serendipity.

But I’ve also gotten questions and comments like:

• Are you coming home? (like really, are you, ever?)
• Are you ok?
• Are you and Jen ok? (when she went home before me)
• What are you running away from?
• Is this some kind of mid-life crisis?

And then, as someone influenced by stoic philosophy, I feel the graven judgement of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Socrates:

You must change the mind, not the venue

The mind cannot find strength in its leisure unless it stops looking around and wandering around. To keep your mind within bounds, you must first stop your body from running away

Seneca

I get that, and I appreciate the concept of finding happiness in the moment. Whether it’s finding joy on death row, in jail like Nelson Mandela for 27 years remaining inspired and inspirational, or just waking up thankful and appreciating the day. That’s all great stuff and I do think that it’s critical to focus on what you have and not say “I’ll be happy when…”.

I do practice this and Jen teaches and inspires me. I like to hydrate first thing in the morning, and with each sip I think about something I’m thankful for. Often just little things but that’s ok. When throwing up in the night in Ban Rak Thai I thought about how thankful I was that my body is so great at getting rid of whatever bad stuff it didn’t like, that I would lose a little weight, and also what a great ab workout it is.

When I broke my leg and had surgery I had no idea what I would do because I couldn’t imagine any kind of happiness without physical activities. I worked on meditation a lot and found I could create the same feelings of happiness and well-being even when stuck in bed recovering. I still use that often.

But then what? When I am well do I just meditate in bed and be happy, thankful for the soft pillow and cozy room? I want more.

The main things I like are being curious and learning, new experiences, and a natural life that includes actual nature, natural interactions with other creatures (people and animals), and natural processes during the day.

The type of travel I’ve been doing satisfies a lot of that. I’m excited, having fun, healthy, thinking and writing a lot. Europe was a very nice trip but this one was the transformational experience I was looking for.

I appreciate Mark Twain’s view

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Mark Twain

In general, embracing new things is what makes me feel alive, and travel is a great way to do that. As she said:

Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before

Mae West

And personally I’d consider it foundational.

In the works of Aristotle, eudaimonia was the term for the highest human good in older Greek tradition. It is the aim of practical philosophy-prudence, including ethics and political philosophy, to consider and experience what this state really is, and how it can be achieved. It is thus a central concept in Aristotelian ethics and subsequent Hellenistic philosophy, along with the terms aretē (most often translated as ‘virtue’ or ‘excellence’) and phronesis (‘practical or ethical wisdom’)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia

So to answer the questions

• Jen and I are fine. Do you have any idea how much quality time we spend together? I’ve worked from home since we’ve met and we do so much together. A month apart isn’t going to change anything!
• It doesn’t feel at all like a crisis, mid-life or otherwise. When I ended my prior career I just thought a lot about what I wanted and the answer was to travel and explore ways to help and give back. So I did that and I feel great!
• I love our friends, family, community, cats, and neighborhood in Austin. It’s so much fun having the Gillespie family sharing our house! I will be honest that I think we will probably move in the coming years but that just makes me want to enjoy it more. I do selfishly hope I will miss the spring pollenpocalypse and leaf-mania.
• Where am I going to stay next? Tonight is night two in my AirBnB. It’s ok but not great so I will move. I don’t know where yet. Last minute deals are real and there are abundant options so it’s fine to wait.
• Where am I going next? Wednesday I’m off to Vietnam to meet Ethan and Alex and do some events and work with SwissEP and other companies. I’m super excited to see Ethan again (who I traveled with in Kosovo and Albania last fall) and travel with them until about March 23.
• And yes, I am coming home. I just found and booked a decent flight April 3! What am I doing between Vietnam and April 3? Well that’s the fun question! TBD.

I’m excited to get back to lovely Jen and see all the friends in Austin, as well as some of you visiting for the eclipse April 8! Pro-tip – you can tell it’s near totality because the shadow lines are crisp AF like the contrast is turned up all the way.