This morning I came upon a poem that reminded me of why I took my long trip to Hawaii in 2012 and why yet again, I headed north to a cabin outside of Ely, Minnesota to make photographs and explore for almost three months. The poem is called
Instructions for Traveling West
Instructions for Traveling West
First, you must realize you’re homesick for all the lives you’re not living. Then, you must commit to the road and the rising loneliness. To the sincere thrill of coming apart. Divorce yourself from routine and control. Instead, find a desert and fall in. Take the trail that promises a view. Get lost. Break your toes. Bruise your knees. Keep going. Watch a purple meadow quiver. Get still. Pet trail dogs. Buy the hat. Run out of gas. Befriend strangers. Knight yourself every morning for your newborn courage. Give grief her own lullaby. Drink whiskey beside a hundred-year-old cactus. Honor everything. Pray to something unnameable. Fall for someone impractical. Reacquaint yourself with desire and all her slender hands. Bear beauty for as long as you are able, and if you spot a sunning warbler glowing like a prism, remind yourself – joy is not a trick.
– Joy Sullivan
I have always wanted to travel and explore the world. Yet despite my yearnings I’ve done very little travel. But I did take three big long solitary travel adventures during my life. When I was 20 years old I traveled to the island of Cyprus to live with a Greek family there for three months. Then, in December of 2012 I headed to the Big Island of Hawaii to spend three months at Akiko’s Buddhist Bed and Breakfast in an old sugar plantation village out in the country near Hilo, Hawaii. And finally in 2017 I headed up to northern Minnesota to a cabin outside of Ely to house sit and make photographs for three months in late winter/early spring.
Me on my Hawaii trip
Leaving Your Comfort Zone
Each of those journeys took me far outside my comfort zone. And during each there were more times than I can count when I wondered why on earth I ever left home. But the trips also left me with rich memories of how I overcame adversity, stepped outside my comfort zone, and connected with people and places I never would have connected with if I hadn’t taken those journeys.
I wouldn’t call any of the trips comfortable. In fact the Hawaii and Ely trip were both very challenging physically for me. And even beyond the physical challenges were the psychological challenges of confronting fear and doubt and finding a way to joy through it all. I count the friends I made on the Big Island of Hawaii as some of the best friends of my life. And the insights I gained into Cypriot life have stayed with me through the years.
Twilight view from my Ely trip home away from home
Each journey brought its own gifts and learning. One of the things I learned was to appreciate being here at home in Minnesota with my beloved Jon, cat Gracie and nearby daughters and grandchildren. I also learned about myself and how I often let fears keep me from doing something that would bring me joy. Another thing I learned was to be brave enough to ask for help when I was lost. There are many ways one can be lost in the world, and need help finding one’s way home.
Only now are we beginning to understand that all life on Earth depends on the freedom to move.
— David Attenborough
Spreading Your Wings
Sometimes it is not something that is missing in your environment but something you need to confront in your own heart and soul that drives you to travel. For me, it was about a desire to deeply experience other ways of living. It was not enough to take a shallow tourist’s view of the places I traveled to. I needed to dive deep into the culture and understand it from living within it for a time. Though I would never totally understand Greek or Hawaiian or northern Minnesota culture, I had a taste of how it was to live in those places and what people valued and believed. Understanding other cultures better helped me to both see and understand my own culture better. It became easier to consciously make choices about which parts of my home culture I value and want to embrace and which parts I want to let go.
Mochi pounding at Akiko’s B&B, Hawaii
I also felt that I needed to push myself out of my comfort zone. It’s so easy to let little fears grow into bigger fears that keep us from doing things we would love to do. Sometimes the best way to confront fear is to feel it and do the thing that we fear anyway. Each time I confronted a fear and walked through it I felt as if I was spreading my wings a bit more.
These are the spikes I needed to wear on my boots up in Ely to safely walk on the icy trails and paths. Each hike alone was an adventure into the unknown.
What would your instructions for traveling west be?
May you walk in beauty.
Note: Today’s photos are mix of some flower still life photos I made yesterday and photos from my trips to Cyprus, Hawaii, and Ely, Mn.
I almost missed photographing this sunrise because of fear but I pushed through the fear and wow, what a view!
One of my lifetime goals was to spend time in the Boundary Waters. While in Ely I made a day trip into the Boundary Waters with a guide. What a beautiful place!
The road to my Ely cabin on a snowy day
Akiko, vibrant, wise, and trickster owner of Akiko’s Buddhist B&B
A slide from my Cyprus trip
Two of the four children in the Greek Cypriot family. We practiced talking in English and they taught me Greek words.
New
New Year’s Day sunrise on a beach down the road from where I lived in Hawaii
Canoeing on Burntside River in April. (It snowed the next day!)
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