What happened to the sabbatical year and life in a motorhome?
I embarked on life in a motorhome on the 4th January, 2016 (van day), and I can still remember the hope and anticipation that flooded my being as I climbed up into the cab, turned the key and put her into gear. Life that morning was full of possibility and the delicious potential that flows through the open door. I imagined, at that moment, that I was taking a year out. That by the end of that year I would have clarity and purpose and be ready to re-settle. As always, life had other ideas, and today, in the second half of the second year of what might yet turn out to be a sabbatical lifetime, I cannot yet see any future beyond what I am already doing. Life in a motorhome has evolved into life shared between the motorhome, house sitting (for income) and staying with friends.
To a large extent, this is good, and I am enjoying the fluidity in my life and geography and work. However, not having a base, living in other people’s spaces and constantly moving around, brings it’s own difficulties. My body hurts most of the time, because I am always using my laptop on kitchen stools, armchairs and dining chairs and at tables that are too high or low. I lose sleep every time I change venue (remember that ‘first night in a strange place’ feeling?) and sometimes don’t sleep well for days. Food shopping – and trying to prevent waste – can be a nightmare; imagine having to move your whole kitchen, easily, wherever you go. Becoming vegan at the beginning of March only complicated things further, as both prepared and convenience foods are much harder to come by. Everything requires forethought, or I just end up eating crap!
Fluidity regarding working comes and goes, but I have felt enough of it to know that it’s a good thing for me. The dog business, has taken the bulk of the first half of 2017, with rapid growth, new contractors and having to let a couple of people go, all taking centre stage at times. It seems to have reached a stable status quo and is no longer requiring my full attention for the best part of every day. July is almost over and it’s wall to wall house sitting season (through until early October), but often house sitting enforces a scenario where I can do meaningful work towards an online future. So this may yet prove to be a fruitful period of growth.
I do have a period of 10 days mid-August, when I will be able to enjoy life in the motorhome again, along with Raffi, down at the farm. It’ll be a time of helping Janet out with farm work and catching up with gorgeous people like my Mum and Dad, Alison and Lloyd. It will be a clearing in the ‘house-sitting-jungle’, and no doubt much appreciated by that time.
I can say that the past few weeks have brought increasing clarity of direction, something that’s been missing since I abandoned the ‘coaching and support’ idea, for people running a pet care business. I’m currently working through Richard Moore’s excellent Eight Step Start Up course, which is proving incredibly useful and is amazing value. Money remains tight, but only because I am currently supplying the living costs of my youngest, as well as my own. I am, of course, always looking for a way to resolve this, without rendering him homeless.
The clarity of direction I mentioned, leads me to say that if you were to ask me what I do (implication = my main work), I would answer that I am a writer. This is a big jump forward for me. Especially since I have also realised that my unique selling point is ME! I recently completed an appraisal of my own passions, knowledge and strengths, over different phases of my life and a clear pattern emerged. For as long as I have had the ability to speak, write and read, I have loved words and engaged with them to grow, nurture, create and educate. I also have a strong history of personal development (long before I even knew what it was), and find it easy to expose my heart. These truths have proven to be deeply liberating, as I explore the patterns of the past, and see that the future is simply a continuation… a working the same threads into a new section of tapestry. May it be the brightest tapestry yet.
With love
Ali x