My Story. Gypsy life.

Hello spring!  My golly, I am so grateful that I’ve survived the season of winter.  I realise that may sound some what dramatic, but it’s the time of year where I tend to struggle.  The short days.  The cold weather.  The lack of sunshine.  It takes its toll on me both mentally and physically.

We’ve had some beautiful sunny days lately and I can feel that my spark is back!  I’m feeling a sense of gratitude for my period of ‘where the hell is my spark?!’ in winter though… it’s opened my eyes up to what’s important to me, what I want to do and how I want to go about it.  

I guess that’s the beauty of winter, it makes you slow down and creates space for things to surface.  You have more time to sit with yourself and ponder things.

As for spring, it’s a season for new beginnings.  It’s time to plant those seeds for things that you’d like to bring to life, and boy oh boy… have I got a few things that I’m excited to bring to life!

Truth be known, these things I’m now ready to bring to life, are ideas from quite some time ago.  In fact one of them… I’ve been talking about it for years, never really knowing how and when it would happen.  I even have pictures of it on my vision board.  

This trend is quite common for me.  I have ideas.  I write them down.  I some what forget about them, and get on with living life.  Then when the time is right, these ideas drop back in and come to life in the most unexpected ways!  The ‘how’ for bringing these ideas to life, generally takes care of itself.  

BUT I have to say, even though the how tends to take care of itself, it still requires me to fully believe that the idea is possible, and requires me to take action when the time is right.  

I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong with bringing their visions and dreams to life… they have an idea, but don’t truly ‘believe’ it’s possible; OR they have an idea, but when it comes to taking ‘action,’ they don’t. They aren’t willing to work through the fear and discomfort that can come with it.

Any how, that’s my two bob on bringing visions and ideas to life; now back to My Story.

For years and years I’ve been talking about living the gypsy life.  To me the gypsy life is being able to be a free spirit and travel around and work from anywhere.  I’ve got pictures of camper vans on my vision board and I’ve always dreamed of chasing the sun.  

I’ve never been able to fully commit to this because of weekly yoga classes I teach.  They've meant I need to be in the same location every week.  I also haven’t had many online products and services to support me with a solid income. I’ve had to rely quite a bit on weekly yoga classes and coaching packages (some Coaching packages have made it tricky to travel as well). 

Hello COVID 19 and I could no longer teach my weekly yoga classes.  This led to me bringing my Online Yoga Studio to life.  The platform I use for that has opened up my eyes to a whole new world.  Not only can I have my Online Yoga Studio, but I can also create other products and services that people are going to benefit from in such a big way. I AM SO EXCITED for what’s to come.

A few weeks ago (when I was in my funk and feeling very uninspired), I decided to go for a little road trip up north to visit my sister, her partner and my little nephew for a few days.  It’s amazing how getting away can help you shift gears… change your energy… and open your mind up to possibilities.  I had such a fun time away and was excited to get home and channel my new found high vibe energy into some work projects.

That wasn’t to be though.  When I got home, I felt flat again.  I was so annoyed!  I was inspired and energised while I was away and was convinced I was out of my funk!  How can it just disappear like that?!

A day later I had my weekly evening yoga classes that I had to teach in town.  My heart and soul was begging me to cancel them, which isn’t normal.  I love my yogis and sharing my yoga practice with them, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to teach my yoga classes this particular night.

I’m all for listening to my intuition and following a feeling, so I went ahead and cancelled my yoga classes for that evening (very out of character for me!).  Later in the week I had a coaching session with my Coach and told her about what happened.  She asked me, ‘how would you feel if you no longer taught your weekly yoga classes in town?’

Straight away my shoulders dropped and I had a huge smile on my face.  I said, ‘I’d feel so light and free.  I’d be able to travel and work from any where.  I’d do pop up yoga classes when I feel like it. In fact I’d travel around the country side and run pop up yoga classes and events.  I’d meet new people and I’d work from my laptop.  I would feel so free!’

There was my answer.  I knew what I had to do.  For me to ignite and feel high vibe, I need to feel free.  I had to discontinue my weekly yoga classes in town, even though they felt like a bit of a safety blanket.  I had to free myself up so I could travel around more. In fact I had this idea of ‘going on tour’ over a year ago.  The idea was there, but the timing didn’t feel right (probably because I was renovating farm houses and juggling multiple projects!).

My poor yogis.  A day later, I messaged them to advise I will no longer be teaching yoga classes on a weekly basis.  I have no doubt it would have felt very out of the blue for them.  As disappointed as many of them were, they were still very understanding and supportive.  They are bloody amazing and I will miss connecting with them on a weekly basis. Luckily I can still share my yoga classes with them via my Online Yoga Studio.

So that was that.  Then I continued on without really thinking about embarking on the gypsy life straight away.  I was simply processing the fact that I would have no weekly commitments where I need to be in a certain place at a certain time.  That in itself was kind of mind blowing, because for the past 10 years of running my own businesses, I have always had to be at the gym or at a yoga studio each week to meet with clients.

A day later dad asked if I could help out in the shearing shed for an hour or so.  I went up to the shearing shed and helped with weighing some fleeces.  At the end of the run I went outside to get some photos for my good ol’ instastories and got chatting with one of the shearers.  The team at the shed for shearing seemed like a cool crew, so I decided to be social and have a drink and a chat with them all (they’d finished shearing all of our sheep, which generally results with the farmers, wool handlers and shearers sitting down and having a few drinks).

There were two French backpackers there, that had been working in the shed.  I started chatting to them about their travels and I said how I would love to travel more but I’m a bit scared of travelling alone.  We had a big conversation about it all and it opened up my eyes to the possibility of travel (around SA to begin with given COVID situation).

I then chatted to another guy that’s from New Zealand.  He has cycled a push bike around the world!  I know right…?!  It’s not often that you chat to someone that has done that!  The gemini in me was loving the conversations about his adventure!  It was seriously incredible listening to his stories and my inquisitive mind was forever asking questions, and wanting to know more.  

The next day I was sitting at home on my couch and I decided, ‘right, I am going to get a camper van and travel around doing pop up yoga classes and events.’  It was like the decision had already been made for me.  I had this inner knowing that that’s the next step. There was no questioning it.

The conversations with the French backpackers and the guy from New Zealand had totally INSPIRED me.  In fact meeting these guys and talking all things travel could not have happened at a better time.  It was so timely - the day after I decided to no longer teach weekly yoga classes so I’m free to travel!

So, the decision has been made.  I want to get a camper van; one that’s already fitted out with a bed, fridge and little kitchen set up so I can travel around the country side and live in it.  I will do pop up yoga classes and events, and hopefully come winter, the borders will be open and I can chase the sun. 

This plan has ignited something in me.  I am excited to see where it takes me.  I’ve done a little bit looking for camper vans but haven’t seriously sat down and done a proper search yet.  I’m busy working on my 30 Day IGNITE for Spring Program (health and wellbeing program) that’s launching at the end of this month, and then come October I reckon the search will begin!

If you’re reading this and you’ve travelled around in a camper van or have any tips or tricks for what I should look for, I am all ears!  I’d also love to hear from you if you’re based in South Australia and would like a pop up yoga class or event in your town.  I would LOVE to connect with you.

So there you have it… that’s my latest update.  I’m going to get a camper van and hit the road. As my grandfather said to me last week, ‘well nothing surprises me with you, Steph.’ He’s correct with that; it’s safe to say, you just never know what idea I’ll come up with next?!

Stay tuned.

With love,

Steph x