Enjoy stories from the first two of nine weeks…
Working Title: “One more night”
8/1/2014
Immediately upon arrival, my body expanded.
I am in a city in my homeland where nobody knows me, I can just be all of me.
After leaving my now ex husband and spending months grieving and flying under the radar, I wanted some space to figure out what kind of woman I wanted to be, and where in the world I feel most myself.
I know I am not the only one who travels for that reason.
The first night I met up with my new friend Carrie and it went like this:
We drank, we danced, we flirted, and then I spend the next 12 hours on the floor of my brother’s bathroom.
37 years old me.
I had already broken the rules.
Me, the hardcore life coach, the one that didn’t drink for 8 years, the one that intended to make choices I could feel proud of, and uhm, on some level make it perfect.
Smiling.
Riding the waves — that is what this is about.
Learning.
Growing.
Trial and error.
Messy perfection.
Allowing play and pleasure in the midst of pain.
Sadness and joy coexisting.
Loving, accepting, and forgiving ourselves in every moment.
Making the next kindest and most mindful choice.
Cue Geoff, the hero of this portion of the story. We met on July 9th, 2014, only three weeks earlier. He came to one of the Yoga classes I teach and asked me to lunch as friends as he was planning a trip to Europe and wanted to pick my brain.
It overlapped with the beginning of my trip so we decided to meet in Munich for 3 days.
So on that infamous Saturday (the only day I spend in this fashion for the remainder of the trip) Geoff landed.
We met up at my brother’s house, which became our ritual. We would walk through the English Garden having the deepest conversations about anything and everything, while either laughing our faces off…or crying in each other’s arms. We had found each other for the sole reason to remind ourselves of who we are.
We helped each other step more fully back into our center and power.
Music, dancing, and being kind to people was a huge part of that.
Munich’s nightlife happens to provide just that, and mighty fine!
We decided to make it a goal to dance until the sun comes up every day, to treat everyone as a possible new best friend, and to be ourselves wherever we go.
Mind you, at this point, we were talking about 3 days.
So we did.
The weekend flew by and Geoff decided to stay another day, and another, and another…cleverly using his hotel points to make it all happen.
I coached my usual clients during the afternoons while he went to explore the city…always coming back with great stories, new outfits, and amazing places to check out.
We met up and collected epic moments every night.
Dancing.
Being twirled.
Truffle pizza at 3am.
Sitting next to soccer star Schweinsteiger.
Watching the surfers on the “Eiswelle”
The perfect song in the perfect moment.
A delicious german beverage under the moon.
Doener kebabs for breakfast.
Taxi conversations.
Endless laughter.
Freeing tears.
Meat, bread, and cheese.
Incredible architecture.
I didn’t really needed to say anything, Geoff had already read my mind…”one more day.”
He ended up staying for the entire two weeks he had intended to explore Europe.
Our conversations, the dancing, the food, the city, the people, the experiences got me reconnected with a part of myself that I had not fully expressed for a while.My roots.
My inner German, lighthearted and carefree Princess.
And while totally-not-secretly loving being ‘different’ here in the states…I really loved ‘fitting in’ a bit more.
I love the german traditions, culture, music, emphasis on quality, architecture, bluntness, and direct approach to things.
And I love that it is normal for a man or woman my age to be single.
People tend to marry later, and spend their 20s and 30s figuring themselves out and focussing on their careers, and I still find that to be a great idea.
The not-so-fun experiences happened mostly when people asked me what I do for living.
“LIFE COACH??? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”
I use so much knowledge and wisdom from german philosophers, poets, politicians, and therapists as inspiration for my work, I was surprised at the mostly weirded out responses.
To each their own.
Truth is, my kind belongs right here.
So I am sitting here under the Carolina sun…smelling the ocean air, and feeling at home.
Inside and out.
I find that for me, home begins right here in this moment, in spirit.
A spiritual being having a human experience.
Happiness is an inside job. I have been taught that I can be happy anywhere and it was wonderful to experience that. I have been taught that it takes courage to feel it all — sadness, anger, and fear included.
There is just something about being in a place that matches what we want our life to look and feel like on the outside too.
I love the conveniences. That entrepreneurship is so encouraged and supported. The open mindedness. The smiles when one walks down the street. The fresh and vibrant food.
The ocean. I can go on and on…
Munich taught me that I can be happy with very little. Not having all the usual distractions and conveniences of my life here, I had a lot of time.
“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” – Anonymous
Time to think, to do nothing, to write, to mediate, to cry, to stare holes into the beautiful blue munich sky.
Time to focus on my work, and what I am called to do next.
A year later, my plate is full with fulfilling work and projects. In my personal life, I am riding the waves perfectly imperfect, exactly as it needs to be. I shake my head and laugh at some of the choices I made, and definitely know that these two weeks were a pivotal point and go into my personal history as top favorite times ever.
Thank you Geoffrey.
Thank you Christoph.
Thank you Carrie.
Thank you Martina.
Thank you Stefan.
Thank you Simone.
Thank you Susie.
Thank you Elli of 2014.
Time to plan a trip, isn’t it?
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller