Lori Robinson animal Communicator

This year is all about me embracing inconvenience.  And fear.

Challenging myself.

I have moved out of my comfort zone into completely unknown, inconvenient territory. And I ’m anxious. If the well-known family therapist Virgina Satir were still alive she would ask me, “Are you anxious or are you excited?”

I’m both.

Last month I sold my small adobe mud house in Santa Fe.

Lori Robinsons mud home in Santa Fe
My sweet mud home in Santa Fe surrounded by woods

I had never planned for New Mexico to be my forever home. The altitude and desert dryness did not suit me.

I could no longer postpone the inevitable overwhelm of selling most of my things (again), saying teary goodbyes to my half-sisters and nieces, new friends, and the coyote, deer, and birds that were my daily visitors for the past three and a half years.

Lori Robinson communicates with Wild Deer
Saying goodbye to my wild friends was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

But difficulty is an important factor for human experience. Convenience is all destination and no journey. And it can enslave us, dull us, and close off options for growth. I’m choosing the journey.

What am I going to do?

That’s the question everyone asks me. My answer goes something like this: I have a vague vision of traveling for a year, mostly in Africa. It’s a dream I’ve carried for a while but could not manifest for various reasons. Now, I have nothing standing in my way. Except the inconvenient fear and struggle of being a single woman in her sixties setting up a vagabond life with no home base. Just writing that brings on the anxious feelings.

As my year unfolds I will try to remain on the excited side of my anxiety (thank you Virgina Satir) and continually remind myself that struggle is not always the problem. It’s also the solution.

Let me know in the comments below if you would like me to post about my inconvenient journey resisting the stupefying power of safe and convenient and seeing what happens. Let me know if you would like to follow along through blog posts like this one.

LvL

 

 

 

 

 

25 Replies to “My Inconvenient Journey for More”

  1. You will never be alone, your friends which I include myself, will always be with you. Our hearts go with you and when your sojourn is complete, we will be there for you again. As though we had never been away at all. You might enjoy looking up a kindred spirit, Audrey Sutherland who kayaked solo I to her 90’s from Seattle to Juno at least 6 times. She loved kayaking the inside passage as you love Africa.

  2. Thanks so much Chris for your wonderful comment. Yes, friends are so important and I am lucky to have many, including you, that I appreciate and love.
    I will look up Audrey. She sounds like a real inspiration. And I need as much as that as I can get at the moment. Times are a changin…..

  3. Wow, Lori! You are such an inspiration for welcoming or becoming comfortable with change. A year in Africa! You changed our lives with that journey. If you come to SF, you have a home here. Safe journeys and rich experiences! And enriching the lives of others and the animals of course! Love and ?????? In the new year! Laurie

  4. Wow, Lori! You are such an inspiration for welcoming or becoming comfortable with change. A year in Africa! You changed our lives with that journey. If you come to SF, you have a home here. Safe journeys and rich experiences! And enriching the lives of others and the animals of course! Love and ?????? In the new year! Laurie

  5. Thank you Laurie. It was such a pleasure introducing you and Gary to the magic of Africa and witnessing your joy, enrapture, and wonder as we safaried in Kenya. I know the wild beings and African people and special places we visited will be in our hearts forever. thanks for commenting. LvL

  6. Lori, I commend you for your spirit will always quest and you cannot let it rest for long. I would love to hear of your travels and adventures along the way.
    You are always the inspiration to me for I too dream of the Gypsy Road. All the Best in the coming new year. Happy Travels

  8. So glad you reminded me that I actually stated it out loud all those months ago. It would not leave me alone. The dream had to manifest itself. So I will journey onwards. LvL

  9. From one gypsy to another – I guess you are right – Gypsys don’t rest for long although I do dream of finding my forever place one day. Just not now. Still too much wandering to do. Thanks for commenting. LvL

  10. So looking forward to hearing about your wonderful adventures. I admire your spirit!

  11. We all in our hearts know that the best things in life are not things at all, but rather our experiences, and you are setting off on a new path of wonderful experiences. I can’t wait to read the next chapter in your story! I just finished a really interesting book called Your Keys Our Home by a couple who sold their home several years ago and just travel the world staying at different Air B&Bs. They are truly experiencing life and culture in other places.

  12. I’m right there with you Lori! Your words are just the ones I needed to read today, I thank you sincerely for that. From one new vagabond to another, I send you the best wishes for adventure, growth, happiness, health, love and connection with your heart’s desires. We only have this life to lead, we are the leaders of all we do and all our choices. I’m so proud of you for recognizing comfort and opting for more.

  13. You are so beautiful and smart.
    You are a curious warrior.
    You are essential to your core.
    You are my friend, wherever you are in the world.
    So happy for your new chapter…even in the sunset before the dawn.

  14. Yes, I want to follow your Journey! You inspire me to visit other lands than Hawaii every year. Haha

  15. Hi Lori Best wishes on your journey. Throwing it to the wind means you’re on a spirit track that seems to be shared by many right now. If your travels bring you to Santa Barbara , please let me know…I’d love to get together! And do keep me posted. Your experiences are always enlightening!

    all my love

    Ann

  18. Dear Lisa, I like the way you put that – the sunset before the dawn. Yes, sometimes it feels that way but mostly I am moving towards dawn more and more.
    Thank you so much for your encouraging loving words. Much appreciate those and you.
    LvL

  19. Hi Janey, Thanks for your comment. That book sounds just like something I need to read right now. I do not have many role models in this lifestyle of people in mid-life doing this vagabond thing. I will look into the book. Thanks so much.
    LvL

  21. Lori, your plan to embrace struggle as a solution is inspirational. Your idea reminds me of a good friend who solo hiked the Camino in Spain and France for several months (look up this beloved pilgrimage if you’re unfamiliar with it). She came back, quit her job at Bed Bath and Beyond and moved to a little town in France. She didn’t speak French. Anything you write about your journey, I’m in.

  24. Wow what a great story about your friend. I love it! Thanks so much for sharing it in the comments. I think many of us dream of doing something similar but so much gets in our way. As we get older we get entrenched in our lives, and our stuff and find it harder and harder to extricate ourselves to this kind of freedom. But for sure it has its challenges especially because I am moving around and plan to not settle for awhile.

  25. I was raised and born in Africa and have spent my adult life travelling and working in the ‘wilds’. I write about my wildlife journeys because I have actually experienced them first hand. Take the first step. You will never regret it.

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