One year ago, today (Oct 17), I flew to Hyderabad, India to completely change my life. I went over fully intending on staying there, and with no guess that it would turn out the way it did. But I wanted to do it. I wanted adventure, to be uncomfortable – I wanted to grow as a human, to expand my mind, build awareness, and have proximity to a different culture and way of life.
When I think back to all that the past year has contained, it feels like a complete time warp in so many ways. I remember getting back to Seattle and my first few nights trying to sleep in my temporary apartment in downtown Bellevue. It was so quiet at night you could hear for miles. In India, the horns never rest, they go all night. If I woke in the middle of the night, I’d often find myself trying to count seconds between honks to try and sleep. If I got to 3 seconds, it was a big deal…horns are certainly not sheep. 😉
I transitioned from a dysfunctional, unhealthy work environment, to working on a team with authentic, caring people who are all focused on trying to do great work and drive impact for others. While I made a few dear friends there, to be home with life friends and family has been an exceptional boost to my spirits. I have mountains, water, clean air, sand, trees, trails…it’s all here.
I’m not sure what I’m trying to say with all of this. It just feels like such a blur. I think one of the biggest lessons I have had is that if we want change, we actually have to clear the space for that change to happen. So often we feel stuck and like things can’t change. I believe if we are willing to take risks and fully embrace life, that we can open ourselves up to possibilities we can’t even fathom.
It’s a curious practice – to assess what is in your life that might not belong anymore. And to maybe not know what it is you do want. But I think the one thing I’ve learned is that for me, I have such a heightened focus on what is near, that I must find ways to shift my gaze and lift my head up to see differently. I have to get past what is easy for me to see. I need to open my eyes to inhale what is around me – to experience possibilities that are there if I can only give them the chance.
So now I feel myself doing that again. I’m making space for new.
Last night, I found myself on my 5th date with an incredibly kind man. We were in the Ravenna neighborhood north of the U district here in Seattle, at an old church that was turned into an art-like multipurpose Collaboratory space. I walked in thinking I was going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time in my life. Instead, we learned that it was something called One Night Choir and we would be learning and performing a song from the movie. I’m sorry…what?!?
But we went for it. We took the song sheet, found a pew and met some very kind people. We learned the different parts to The Time Warp, a song from the movie (which he knew and had seen many times). We laughed, we ooooo’d and doop’d (part of the song) and I learned that there a dance that goes with the song; yes we did the dance. They recorded it. It is likely already on YouTube. You can’t make a night like that up.
If you told me one year ago, as I was boarding my flight to Hyderabad, that in one year I would be living in Seattle after being gone for 10 years, that I’d have a dream job, I’d have PennyG back with Moksha and me, that I’d be surrounded by so much love and friendship, and oooing on a date in a church flanked by people in costumes (that I didn’t get since I still haven’t seen the movie!), I’d laugh and tell you that you’re crazy.
Yet here I am. My very own Time Warp, and I am loving every second of it. Keep your heads up – watch for what you aren’t seeing because it is there for you.
“I remember doing the Time Warp
Drinking those moments when
The blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling.”
Find the void my friends. Amazing is on the other side.
my go @ life 