After starting Part 1 of the Traveling Herbalist, I figured I should give some background to all this. (unless of course you read the About Me page)
Also, let you know this is not a forum where I am going to tell you my deepest hurts and fears, that is between myself and whomever it may apply to.
Wont go to far back but around 2005 I started to revisit natural ways of doing things. Call it Mid-life crisis (dislike the term) or just had enough toxic things in my life. I always enjoyed exercising and being outdoors. Even if it was doing un-healthly things. A dear friend contacted me with news that she had cancer and heard about an energy healing process called Reiki and tried it out with awesome results. She knew I was “into” Angels, Energy and Alternative ways, thought I would be interested. Took my first level Reiki and was hooked. In 2006, another dear friend heard about this Goddess Bootcamp being held at Kripalu in Massachusetts and did I want to go for the 5 days. Heck Yes!! 5 days of Yoga, being outdoors!! Home life was pretty miserable and I would do anything to get away for a few days. So off we went. Here I met Sierra Bender. Well let me tell you by the end of the bootcamp I was ready to seriously look at my life and see where it was going.
Now you are probably wondering, “You are 45 years old, don’t you know by now!” Not! I had lived in NJ my entire life, at 19 started raising a beautiful daughter, worked at the same company for 25 years. Took my responsibilities fairly seriously. You must have a job because you must have insurance and a retirement plan, etc etc. I was far from perfect but we don’t need to go into that now. Suffice to say did a few things I am not proud of but glad I grew out of it. Married for the second time, because tired of being alone, needed some financial stability. The more you make the more you spend. Ok I think you have the picture.
My first bootcamp was a eye opener. Spending 5 days with a large group of women, all going thru some sort of process or another is not a walk in the park. Now I am not a large group type of person, prefer to suck it up and get on with it. So here are 30+ with 30+ issues, lives and stories. Ahhhh!! This is not me, I don’t have these kinds of issues or stories, I’m just a somewhat normal person, leading a somewhat normal life. Isn’t this what we should be grateful for and deal with it. Guess what NO we don’t have to be grateful for a house that is almost paid for, a husband who takes us out to dinner on sat to nice restaurants and vacations once or twice a year, grateful for a good job $$ that maybe 40% of the time we enjoy.
OK so after first bootcamp I really started to look at what was around me, was I happy with my life. The BIG question came: Could I see myself doing this for another 20 years till I retired and maybe see what else there was out there? The answer was NO!