It’s funny how something so simple can suddenly feel like pure luxury, like watching Netflix in the middle of the forest, where there’s barely any signal. Somehow, that moment felt more exciting than any 5-star experience. Maybe it’s the contrast, the quiet of the trees, the crackling fire, and then… a familiar screen lighting up like a portal back to the “old world.”
One morning, I caught a TRE (Tension & Trauma Release) session right at our campground, with the wheel of the car as my background and birds as my playlist. It was unglamorous, raw, and absolutely perfect. Later, I found myself lying on the grass, breathing in sync with my body, letting the wind breeze over my skin, listening to birdsong and the pop of firewood. (Okay, minus the mosquitoes. They definitely weren’t part of the meditation plan.)
Being in nature brings me back to something I often forget: the present moment is more important than any thought in my head.
Over the past three years, I’ve been working on something deeper than goals or plans, something I now call my “being.” Not a concept, not a checklist, but a lived experience. It’s about presence, through ups and downs, through things going my way, and things falling apart.
And that’s what this journey is really about. This trip? It’s not just about where the van goes, or how many kilometers we’ve clocked. It’s about the inner road – the road that reveals how I react, how I hold myself in discomfort, how I meet the old parts of me that no longer fit, and how I choose to soften, shift, or simply observe.
I’m learning that to truly live as my authentic self, I have to begin with knowing who that self is. Not the polished version. The real one. And once I know it, the next step is acceptance, not with judgment, but with grace. That’s when the glow begins not from effort, but from alignment.
So maybe the greatest distance I travel isn’t across provinces…
It’s the journey back to myself.