The Spiritual SandBox

THE SOUL SANDBOX Presents:

My MidLife Roadtrip

PART ONE:

"Nebraska, the Etch-A-Sketch on the Road of Life," By Susie Dickey

Written from the road as I relocated from Southern California (where I was born and raised, and lived all my life) to Minnesota (where my soul has always been called, where my soul has always felt home).

-I’d wanted to make this move since I was only a girl of 12 - oh how much Knowing that wise little girl held - and it only took me 45 + years to make it happen-

My physical RoadTrip started with this download from GUS (God, Universe, Source) in my Honda CR-V, with the windows down, hair flying all around my face, and the feel of my favorite pencil and notebook in my hands.

Yes, someone else was driving in this moment! Let's begin.

-Every Life Landscape carries its own Energy-

In August 2019, I departed my “old” life and set out on the road to my “new” life, across the country.

There is nothing old or new about my life, or about me, really.

It’s still the same life whether I reach back across the miles in my memory, or stretch forward into tomorrow’s sunset.

The difference between the old and the new is how I shape myself on the journey today, right now, every moment.

-I departed California, crossed a sliver of Arizona and then sped into Utah-

Taking a stop in Zion National Park, where ancient native people and pioneers walked.

I gazed in wonder at the massive sandstone cliffs, showcasing the energy expended by nature to shape and carve and hollow the land over eons of time.

Just like the births and deaths, beginnings and endings of life, that energy is powerful enough to create absolute wonder and can be meaning-making for anyone who witnesses it.

As a young girl, I too, was shaped by events and circumstances out of my control, like so much wind or rain or movement of earth.

- Driving through Utah into Colorado and up the mountains to the summit near Vail, the energy shifted, and the landscape evolved to something new. As we climbed up to 10,000 feet and then down again, I thought of all the ups and downs and highs and lows I’ve traveled in my life, and the energy I needed to grow in mind, body and soul -

The energy needed to climb and the energy needed to slow down around the curves

Climbing the road from young girl to young woman: graduating from college, starting a new job, getting married and having children… these mile markers on my life journey were monumental.

Solid. Pushed up out of the earth, or carved by ice, eroded by wind and water.

-As we drove across Nebraska – a land of mostly flat plains and fields of corn with Big Sky in every direction, the miles rolled by, seemingly endlessly

At first, I thought this landscape so very boring, compared to the wonders of Zion, or the peaks of Vail.

-The energy was shifting, on this physical RoadTrip-

As the wind through the open window blew my hair around my face, and the miles and miles of fields rolled by, I began to appreciate the simplicity, and even the monotony, of this new stretch of the road.

The engine didn’t labor to get up the next incline… the brakes didn't labor to slow the car cruising downhill… as in Colorado.

It was soothing, as much as it was boring.

- As a kid, do you remember ever playing with an Etch-A-Sketch?

Creating images by working the dials and watching the lead lines travel across the frame?

Much like clearing that Etch-A-Sketch to create a new piece of childish art, Nebraska was making space for a new creation.

- Nebraska was clearing my mind of mental clutter, decisively.-

Nebraska, a forgiving landscape, full of endless possibilities and opportunities to build a new chapter when I reached my destination.

Perfect for this girl. This girl, who was traveling 3 of life’s most stressful landscapes, at more or less the same time, and pace.

- Google the top most stressful life chapters, and you will find Death, Divorce and Relocation in the top 5 -

(And incidentally, the 4th and 5th most stress events are Major Illness and Job Loss. Hello COVID-19.)

The Relationship Landscape

I’m Divorced 2 1/2 years now.

I related to the forgiving nature of Nebraska’s landscape, as I had my own forgiveness work cut out for me.

Forgiving him.

Forgiving myself.

Letting go of wanting things to be different. Wanting him to be different.

Not wanting to change myself though. Rooted in righteousness.

That’s been a long and bumpy journey.

It feels liberating to be through that desolate and lonely country.

Back to Self.

The Relocation Landscape

The decision to make the move across country was not an easy one to make.

Nor was the actual process of planning, preparing and packing.

Packing up a lifetime.

Sifting through the contents my life had accumulated over time.

Letting go (why did I keep ALL of the kid’s artwork from childhood, when only a few pieces each was really more than sufficient?)

Accepting that almost every part of my old life was being left behind, in making room for the new chapter.

I feel brand new and finally Home.

My soul has always felt seated in the great land of Minnesota.

I’d wanted to make this journey since I was 12. (That’s another story.)

Again, bringing me back to Self.

The Mourning Landscape

And then, there was a sense of Death.

Mourning who I was as a wife.

Mourning what it was to be a full-time parent.

Letting go of what was holding me back from growing into a new version of womanhood.

Accelerating towards what’s next.

What’s next was a letting go of everything that didn’t serve me over my lifetime.

Sloughing off.

Growing new skin.

Shaping it according to my Values and Purpose.

Becoming the Me I was always meant to Be.

And again, back to Self.

Just like the varied landscapes I’d driven since leaving California. my life, like the desert, has had desolate and lonely stretches.

Like the natural wonders in the national parks, the tumultuous energy of my life has shaped me like so much hardened rock, dotted with green life, thriving still.

Like the mountains of Colorado, I’ve climbed impossible summits, with patience and perseverance (some of the time).

And like Nebraska's plains, my life like a sky so big, that there is nothing but endless possibilities ahead.

to be continued…

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The Soul SandBox, Playing in the Field of Infinite Possibilities.

Through the framework of Energy Leadership (tm Bruce D. Schneider), I help everyday humans bring about extraordinary change in their lives, and in the lives of the humans they love, simply by seeing themselves in a new way.

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