Preparation
Dear fellow travelers,
After years of searching, I've finally found the right clothes.
Intuitively, I was looking for something stretchy, without knowing why. Clothes that are suitable for the mountains. For parties. For spontaneous trips to the yoga studio.
I think I've always tried to prepare myself. Not for the worst-case scenario—I never even thought about that—but for the best-case scenario, even though I would never have called it that. For those days that only happen in the summer.
I used to think I needed different versions of myself for different worlds. Now I have a copper flask, a small backpack, a skirt, sunglasses, and a couple of braids. And suddenly, I can go anywhere with them. Up a mountain. To the lake. Into the city. To a festival. To a studio. To a Bavarian family celebration. To a runway.
My clothes have become travel clothes. Not for one place. For life, which sometimes feels like a festival. When you just decide on a whim to stay the night. And suddenly find yourself at a bachelorette party over breakfast. When you spend the whole day at the lake on your way home. When you stop along the way and dance a little out of joy. Just because.
A festival in the desert laid the foundation for this. My visit to Burning Man in 2006 was my first embodied dreamscape.
Of course, I didn't know that back then. I just knew that I found something there that I couldn't find anywhere else. Art. Costumes. Crazy ideas. Universes. Fire. Everything flowed into one another. You danced in the middle of a sandstorm and were part of an art installation at the same time.
It was like a living, breathing game. A playground for young and old alike. Just the way a good summer day feels to me.
Today I would say: That’s where I experienced what the future feels like before it becomes reality. Back then , I didn’t have the words for it. Today I do. Dreamspace. Future Sensing.
And suddenly, I understand my travels better, too.
It was a zest for life that first drew me to Brazil. It wasn't until later that I began to delve deeper—into the roots, the stories, and the ancestors. Into Merkén.
Chile became memory. Brazil became the future. Merkén became earth. The Spaceship became heaven.
And my heart is caught somewhere in between, and for years it has been trying to bring them both to the table.
The funny thing is: Now they’ve been sitting together in my backpack for quite some time. I don’t have to fly anywhere anymore. Merkén rides a bike. The Spaceship drinks water from a copper bottle.
*
The other day I saw a T-shirt. It said, “Elevate yourself and others.”
I had to laugh. That's quite a lot of responsibility. What about: " Ground yourself and others"?
Because we celebrate the breakthrough. The summit. The operation. But the care afterward is often forgotten. The soup. Sleep. The recovery period.
*
My boyfriend and I are out and about this summer. He usually jumps into the water faster than I do. I need time. I make noises. I need space.
When someone rushes me, it takes forever. When no one's watching, it goes by surprisingly fast. And afterward, I love the cool water. Every single time!
Things work out for me in a similar way. Not slowly because I don't want them to, but slowly because I reach out to others. And because I've learned that it helps when the sun is shining—and when someone has a towel ready for afterward.
Perhaps that's also the difference between change and support. Change throws us into the water. Support makes sure we get back out.
Great things rarely happen in spectacular moments. They happen in between. While you’re living your life. While you’re looking up at the sky. While you’re drinking coffee and reminiscing.
With love and memories coming to life,
Jeannette
