A game of Jenga…

It’s been a rough year. 

The last time y’all heard from me, I was returning from a challenging, but insightful ayahuasca retreat in Peru. I shared that experience in this blog, but I didn’t share some of the “insights” I received while under the influence. During one of my ceremonies, I experienced a strong sense that a period of upheaval was coming in my life. I kept that little tidbit to myself (and all the foreboding that came with it), allowing it to grace only the tattered pages of my private journal. Looking back, I can see that trip marked the starting point of that period, because after that, the universe began playing a game of Jenga with my life. 

First, that travel experience proved to be more physically challenging than I expected. In itself, that was no big deal—I can roll with those punches. But when I reported back to work—still recovering from the physical issues that I brought back with me—I discovered an organizational restructure had happened in my absence. As a part of this restructure, I was forced to report to a petty VP who proceeded to make my work life more unpleasant than at any other time in my career. Work had become a daily hell. A block from my Jenga tower was pulled.

Then, before the Christmas holiday, the Northwest was hit with a winter storm that brought heavy rain and ice, canceled my holiday plans, and also resulted in a series of household disasters. It seemed like each day of that storm brought with it a fresh new disaster. In the end, the damages would cost thousands of dollars (and take 6 months) to repair. More blocks were pulled, one for each separate disaster.

Shortly thereafter, I learned my company had mismanaged my 401k and their miscalculations would cost me in tax penalties. [Another block.] 

Then, I suffered a personal loss of someone I cherished deeply and was catapulted into a morass of grief. [This one was worth several blocks.]

As if that were not enough, shortly after that, I was laid off. Given the hell that work had become, that would normally be fantastic news (also, those who know me know that I’ve been planning for this inevitable layoff for quite some time—I was planning to use it to launch a  “pre-retirement” contracting phase in my career that would include a lot more time off between contracts). However, since I was still raw from the personal loss, there was still a great deal of uncertainty about how bad the 401k issue would be, and the extent and cost of the damage to my house was still unknown, the timing of the layoff could not have been worse. [Yet. Another. Block.]

All of this happened over the span of three short months and to say that I was reeling at the end of it would be a terrible understatement. So there I was, mentally spinning, near the point of breaking down, and missing several key blocks from the foundations of my life—blocks that represented things from which I derived my sense of security: home, job, money, and close personal relationships. Those foundational blocks were pulled from the bottom half of my Jenga tower and suddenly, my entire life was dangerously swaying and threatening to topple into a massive heap of rubble.

Newly unemployed, hoping beyond hope that the unfortunate events were over (they weren’t, but they were doled out at a more reasonable pace after that), I spent the first initial weeks of unemployment accomplishing very little, still stupefied by how quickly my life had turned upside down. Then, I began the slow process of putting my pieces back together. Realizing that I was (and still am) in an important period of transition, I began by considering what I really wanted from this new phase of my life. I had always assumed that when I finally entered this “pre-retirement” phase, I would spend even more time traveling, potentially spending 3-6 months abroad every year. However, now that I had finally arrived at the phase after a tumultuous three months, I found that what I really wanted was something else altogether. See, even though I often share my travel with friends for short periods of time, the vast majority of my travel life is spent alone. The last thing I wanted right now was to spend even more time traveling alone. What I really wanted was to rebuild my foundation to create something that would support me in this new phase of life: I wanted to fix my home, start a contract business that could eventually become my new part-time livelihood, and most importantly, I wanted to focus on the most important thing in my life: the people. In particular, I wanted to spend more time developing and nurturing relationships with people I love and trust. 

I torture you with all of this tedious preamble to set the context for this trip, the theme of which is not just about travel, but about nurturing my relationships with three lifelong friends. This trip started with a desire to see two of my closest friends while they were visiting Croatia (Jill and Don, who you may remember from my Colombia trip). Then, the trip grew when my friend Jared (who you may remember from my Taiwan trip) expressed an interest to see the same part of the world. This all resulted in a rather unique trip (for me). I have never traveled with a companion for more than three weeks—this trip will be 6 weeks, all of which will be spent in the presence of close friends. I can’t imagine a more perfect scenario after a difficult year. 

To start, Jared and I will kick off this trip in Croatia and tour a bit of both Croatia and Slovenia together. Toward the end, we will meet Jill and Don in Split, after which I will return home to Portland.

Without further ado, welcome to Croatia.