Untethering...

to coddiwomple

Photo by mojtaba dorri ghabel on Unsplash

Today’s my birthday.

How does one celebrate six decades on the planet?

I’ve been spending much of the day sorting through my belongings and re-homing things. If you had asked me this earlier in the year, this would not have been my answer.

Allow me to provide some context. Like many people, I want to write a book. The kind of book I want to write has changed over the years. All the published authors I know have advised me that in order to do this, you need to simply make a practice of writing. I used to write more often, in fact I wrote on Medium on and off for a few years. I wrote about work, I shared some personal essays and commentary, along with some poetry.

I wanted to write about ecosystem building which is the work I have been doing professionally for the past decade. Someone asked who I was writing it with. I told them I’m just writing the book. “You’re writing a book about collaboration by yourself?” they asked. Well, damn, ok, maybe not. I tried to get some badass women I know to write it with me. We had some great conversations and bonded, but we’re all very busy and it sort of fizzled. Then I figured I’d write a memoir, just my life as I remember it. Hard to mess that up, right? That came in fits and starts, again as life got in the way.

A few friends kept nudging me to write about connections and engagement, something I’ve worked at most of my life and I’m pretty good at it. After all, a multi-billion dollar foundation hired me to do just that, but that’s another story.

The job and consulting markets are pretty wonky right now, and everything worldwide feels unsettled. So I decided to dedicate time and energy to writing a book about connecting, engaging and fostering belonging.

As I started to research ways to be sustainable while writing (grants and part time work), opportunities for residencies started to show up on my feed. What did I need a residency for?? I need someone to pay my mortgage!

But wait…what if I didn’t have to think about that? I have been traveling most of my life. With over 40 countries under my belt, I’m always exploring and planning the next trip. So what if I rented out my condo and became ‘geo-flexible’ like my former colleague, Christine? Hmmm…

So, about a month ago, I spoke it into reality. I don’t like the notion of putting things in storage. Paying for the comfort of owning something without ever having to look at it. That’s weird math. Personally, I’ve moved from the acquisition stage of my life to the minimalizing portion. I’m no Marie Kondo, but thanks to The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, I felt better about re-homing things I once loved. There was a realization as I do this that I decided where these precious things went and offered an opportunity for others to love them too. With more years in the rearview than ahead, being more intentional about how I choose to live is more important than ever. So much is unknown and unpredictable. I did, however, understand that my son is not nearly as sentimental as I am. He’s a minimalist, having traveled for months with just a 26 lb /12kg backpack. I envisioned upon my death he would simply have a garage sale of all my cherished possessions. Then, I realized he wouldn’t go through the trouble of pricing items.

Anyway, tonight, I will sleep in my own bed (once I clear the clothes off) and tomorrow I will continue to pack what will only fit in my car and prepare to coddiwomple onward.

I was introduced to the word “coddiwomple” by April Rinne who shared it in her book, Flux which everyone should read. While it feels like I’ve been coddiwompling for much of my life. Now, more than ever, it feels like the right thing at the right time.

So if you’d like to join me, in some fashion, I’ll share some musings along the way. It’s not really a travel blog, but I’ll share where I am and what I’ve experienced. We may go down a rabbit hole or get deep and provocative. I don’t promise regularly scheduled posts but I will strive to keep it interesting.

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