Connection is Everything

When I first started on the road, I found myself wandering aimlessly, passing quickly through towns and checking it off the list of places I've been.  I finally felt like I was spinning wheels and not feeling fulfilled and made a stop in Montana.  After a few weeks of complete isolation in the wilderness of Montana, I started to unravel and lose my mind.  I didn't have cell service, didn't see a single soul, and only came into town to find out what Etsy orders I had, ship off previous orders from the past week, get groceries, take a shower, do laundry...then would quickly go back out.  By the end of the third week, I don't think I knew what my voice sounded like because I hadn't talked to anybody.  Finally, I had enough and started to socialize a little bit.  I stopped in Jackson to see a friend I had gone through EMT training with.  I was a wreck, though.  I was anxious and completely out of sync with socializing and became psychologically sick.  It was that experience that taught me how important human connection is.  

I started the healing process down in Los Angeles, parking outside my brother's house in the Hollywood Hills.  It's a weird sensation to feel somewhat like a homeless vagrant, yet also living right under the Hollywood sign.  That's when I met The Van with No Plan, these two brothers that had been living out of their van for a year or 2 longer than I had.  They had it down.  They talked to everyone like everyone was their neighbor - and technically, when you live in a van, everybody is.  They were the most bright eyed kids I had seen since hiking the Appalachian Trail.  And the thing the trail had in common with these 2 brothers was the human connection element.  

I started to make reaching out to people, friends, and strangers, a regular practice...taking it as seriously as eating healthy and exercising.  My life started to fill with joy and not only was I connecting to others, I felt connected within myself.  I continued on in my travels, and places started to really come alive with the people that I would cross paths with and talk to and spend time with and keep up with.  I would still disappear into the wilderness for many days at a time, but making sure to mix it up the following week with spending time in a town and chatting with random people.

And with that lesson, that powerful lesson of how important human connection is, I am committed to keeping that alive in the shop and with these bracelets.  It's not just a bracelet, it's about being connected.  Because we are all in this beautiful world together.

Discount Code for: Buy 2 Wanderlust Bracelets, get 3rd one for 15% off.  (Limit 1 per customer, expires May 25, 2020, must be entered at time of purchase).

ALLINTHISTOGETHER