"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

- Joseph Campbell

How perfect that I found and posted this quote just one year ago today...

Kertiyasa Bungalo, our home for November

At the beginning of 2017, I wrote in my journal that I'm either going to do hit all 50 states by van or travel internationally. I hadn't travelled beyond North America for the last 3 years, since I started to live from the road, and was getting the itch for it.

In June of this year, I found myself on a Croatian island, first with 320 humans from across the globe whom I'm connected to through a community called Sandbox, then a week of sailing the Adriatic Sea with 40 others, some Sandbox, some not.

The sailing trip was put on by a group called Unsettled, founded by 2 Sandboxers, and they host excursions and co-work/live retreats from places such as Morrocco, Portugal, Columbia, Peru, Nicaragua, Bali, Argentina, South Africa, and Spain.

It was a bit shocking to find just how many people I had met who had attended these retreats and spoke of them as if they were catalyst points to incredible growth, certainly some fascinating stories from each.

During this trip abroad, I continued my (almost)daily creative practice of selecting a photo to share, staring at it as I turn inward to connect to what's stirring, then outward to the ether to connect to what's unformed and waiting to be discovered, then writing it out to post with the photo.

I started to notice a small trend in a number of my posts -- I am unsettled.

It has appeared in a few forms, from fear and anxiety moving through like dark clouds, to the crossing of thresholds with breath and excitement, to a deep sense of soft and melodic repose.

My nomadic lifestyle has been a daily navigation through being unsettled, and I have learned to embrace and connect to it as something I seek out and strive for.

Finding excitement within uncomfortable chaos.

Some people come to an Unsettled retreat to reorient themselves and find alignment, bringing more clarity, abundance, and a sense of comfort. I found myself being called to Unsettled because the act of going and participating is what would help keep me unsettled.

As soon as I got back to the states in July, I was looking at their upcoming cohorts and saw Bali on the list with space available in November. As I sat on my friends Marc and Ashley Nager's couch in Telluride, Colorado, I swapped a couple emails with Michael Youngblood, one of the founders, then started booking tickets.

I had no idea what life would look like then, as I often don't beyond about 7 days ahead of me, but I trusted everything would begin to shape around whatever I committed to, as it did to bring me to Croatia.

And it did yet again.

Now I'm in Ubud, Bali for the month of November, with 24 deep and beautiful humans, that for whatever their own reasons and paths, all lead us to this place, at this time, together. We are just beginning to explore each other's stories and perspectives, while creating new stories and experiences together and already I'm incredibly inspired.

Throughout the month, I'll continue sharing my experiences and learnings, as well as highlighting a few feature profiles on some of the others. And of course, tons of sunrises and sunsets! ;)

Here are a few snaps from the first 2 days: