From Globe-Trotter to Basement Dweller – How COVID clipped our wings.
The other day I was trying to find words to convey to a friend what it feels like to go from world globe trotter to basement dweller in just a few short months. Like a ship without a rudder I was feeling adrift and without steerage. My friend nailed it when she said “I had lost my purpose”.
Exactly, I am out in the world without purpose, adrift. That brought up a very interesting point that I hadn’t really internalized before. Over the past four years, house and pet sitting has indeed been my purpose and a noble one at that.
I have always savored that sense of fulfillment that comes when a homeowner shows their gratitude for the care that you have given their home and pets. It was like a bonus to me but maybe, subliminally, it is much more than that. It is the expression of my purpose. A job well done!
The last four years have been an absolute blast. Johanne and I, have traveled the globe living in places we could not have dreamed of. We have cared for restored mansions in Mexico, alpaca farms in New Zealand, and organic coco estate in Panama. We have lived remotely on gorgeous Caribbean Islands and on breathtaking beaches in Ecuador. For the most part, our house-sit gigs have been booked back-to-back with a few days of adventure travel thrown in for good measure.
But of all the amazing homes and properties that Johanne and I have experienced, we sit here in the basement feeling at a loss for all of the beautiful animals that we have cared for. So that again affirms that house-sitting truly is a purpose for us. A menagerie of over eighty dogs, sixty cats, donkeys, sheep, cattle, various fowl and turtles have benefited from our love and attention while their owners enjoyed a carefree vacation. Pretty good eh?
Before the news of a global shut-down engulfed us, we were looking forward to twelve more months of fully booked sits. Eight fabulous back-to-back sits began to unravel, we went from Plan B to Plan C, D, and then E. By now we are on Plan K or something like that. Johanne is spending almost as much time working on airfare cancellations and refunds as she did in organizing it all in the first place.
Like many of you, we are truly nomadic in that we have no home to go back to. The uncertainty that arises from being homeless in these times could easily keep a person lying awake at night.
However, another dear friend and house sitter (house sitters have the best wisdom) shared a paradigm shift that has really helped. She told us that “uncertainty” is easier to manage if you exchange it for the word “wonder”. I love that bit of wisdom and have tried to incorporate it into our vocabulary. So rather than fretting about the uncertainty that comes with closed borders and canceled flights we prefer to just be in wonder of where we will end up.
We hope to have at least another four more years with house-sitting as our main purpose but for now, we can only wonder what that might look like!!
Wishing you all the best in living your purpose and wondering where we will meet up down the road.
joyfultravellers