I’ve just gotten home from Kenya. As you know, it was my “dream trip.” It was a dream that I spent years (like 30 of them) cultivating and nurturing and releasing and watching unfold. Honestly, the “journey” of manifesting this trip is worth a novel or two, I am sure! LOL What a ride!
And the trip itself? How was it, really?!? (Everyone is asking me this like somehow they wonder if the reality measured up to the dream…)
So here’s the low-down on what really happened on my trip to Kenya:
- I communed with the elephants. And they blew my mind. Honestly, who knew such wisdom could simply ooze from a being as it does from an elephant? Even the wee ones seem to know things that I will never know and never understand. It was pure magic.
- I cried. A lot. With the elephants. With the giraffes. Even just as we drove through the wilderness. My guides were at first a bit concerned but once they got used to it, they just simply passed me the tissues. And when they said goodbye to me, and I cried harder, they held me tighter and each whispered to me the same thing – “Kenya is your home. You’ll be back and we’ll be here, waiting.” (God, I am crying even as I type this!!)
- I didn’t use a hair dryer. Ever. Not once in 2 weeks. Shocking, I know.
- I didn’t check Facebook. Ever. Not once in 2 weeks. Equally shocking, I know.
- I learned that billionaires are people, too. I know this because I met many on this trip. They celebrate birthdays like the rest of us and some like chocolate cake and some don’t. They don’t use hair dryers on safari either.
- On safari, you don’t know people’s last names…you don’t talk about work or assets or mergers or acquisitions…you talk about what you saw, what you experienced, and how it felt. You laugh and cry together – complete strangers become your closest friends in those shared moments. That, too, was magic.
- I opened my mind – wide – to discuss topics I never thought I would discuss, and I even changed my position on some of these topics based on what I learned. Hunting, female circumcision, drinking the blood of animals, polygamy…we dove deeply into each of these and many more and my mind is still hurting a wee bit from all that stretching.
- I sucked the marrow out of life. In every moment, I was blissfully alive. I ate the finest food, drank the most glorious wines, saw the most incredible sites. We stayed in lodges and camps that only the world’s most affluent travellers stay at, and I fit right in. Why? Because I embraced the decadence. I revelled in the beauty of it. And I wrapped the comfort and joy of the experience around me like a well-worn hoodie.
- I changed my mind about some stuff. A lot of stuff, actually. I’ve made up my mind to dream a bigger dream for my business, to dive even deeper into my work, to let go of some personal “things” that were occupying too much of my time and energy, and, well, there’s a lot more to tell that I am just not quite ready to disclose. Soon…but not today. I know you will understand.
You see, I left part of me in Kenya. I’m not fully back yet…not sure I will ever be. I rather think that there is a shadow of me that is still sitting on the rocks by the Ewaso River, communing with those elephants. In fact, I’m rather certain of it. Perhaps one day you’ll join me there. Calvin Cottar told me, “Kenya brings out the truth in people.” No words more true than those.
I hope you are happy and well. And I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
