Inspiration via a silence bath

I had the absolutely wonderful pleasure of meeting one of my all time favorite writers on Thursday - memoirist extraordinaire, Elizabeth Gilbert, author of "Eat, Pray Love." This book has been an inspiration to women (and a handful of men ;) world-wide and certainly made an impression on me during the spring of 2006 when I was a freshman in college. Liz writes brilliantly and has a superb way with both the written and spoken word! She was a delight to talk to, listen to, and enchants the soul of all those in her presence.

Liz asked the whole troupe of people who had made the trek to see her one of her favorite questions - "If you had no responsibilities, limitless funds, and an entire year, where would you travel too?" Well, if you're reading this blog, you probably already know that I asked myself that exact question (minus the "limitless funds" part...) a few months ago and decided that it would make my heart immeasurably happy to travel to New Zealand and spend a year wandering, working, meeting, introducing, and playing throughout the country. So, late one night in November, while browsing travelocity.com, I found it. The flight. The departure date, arrival time... Destination - Auckland, New Zealand!! And, at midnight, I clicked the "confirm" button on the screen with a shaky and FLIPPIN' EXCITED!!! finger. One step closer to the adventure of a lifetime. Holy crap.

Despite having over two months to do research on places I want to visit and things I want to do (ummm...everything.), I simply haven't. I've taken the "flybytheseatofmypants" approach to planning. My "plan" is to meet some awesome travelers and locals, find random work doing random things with random hours, and just living in the moment. A fellow traveling friend of mine said "If you plan too much, you'll just set yourself up for disappointment" and I have to agree. So, for all of you who are thinking "Go, Anna, go!!" - right on! :-) And, for those of you who think I'm nuts...you might have something there...lol. And mom, I'll spend the $14 USD per night to stay at a hostel for the first couple days in Auckland. xx

But, although I haven't done much physical planning, my mind has been on the move with the mental stuff. Leaving home and everything that's familiar to me will pose definite challenges. But, I'm excited for this voyage of self-discovery and feel so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to take a year of my life to go off the beaten path and hack, tramp, and lose my way through the weeds and bush and what have you. I look at this next year as a time to discover and develop the person that I am and want to become. It's going to be incredible, terrifying, thrilling, and normal all at the same time. And I cannot wait!!

So, today's Saturday. I leave...Wednesday. Sheesh, I better start packing!

*Note - "Silence bath" is a phrase coined by Liz Gilbert for the time you should take each day for mental and physical renewal. Whether it's an actually bathtub soak, meditation, petting a cat, or a snooze, silence baths do wonders for the psyche and all in all, make you a much more pleasant person to be around. "The shit works." :-)