The journey continues. I usually do the thing then write about the thing, but here I am, in India, on day two of what’s to be a two-month adventure, and realized the learnings that will come through here are best shared live.
Since writing my last post, a lot has happened, so let’s start there. I moved out of LA, got rid of my apartment and car to travel with no homebase for the first time ever, and I left the company that had been my world for the past two years.
After my last day at Field Trip in November, what followed was a couple weeks of chaos, internal and external, before the dust settled from leaving the company and team that I helped build and had been my heart and soul for two years. Suddenly, I was in a place of complete string-lessness, in all aspects, life and work. I then felt a surprising combination of relief and freedom.
That lasted about 48 hrs...then with what I now realized was a restless anxiety seeking distraction from feeling and processing all the change, I dove headfirst into building my next venture. Thankfully I lifted my head above water to enough to lean on my cosmic council: therapist, astrologer, psychic healer (this path needs a tribe…), and the guidance was consistent and spoken with a force they knew was needed for me to hear it. REST. Take time to rest and receive. To simply be, not do, for the first time in my life. The burnout of two years building a startup in a nascent and highly regulated industry from pre-series A to NASDAQ was painted all over me. If I want to create something new that’ll reach the level I envision, I need time to clear, reset and refuel.
And so, I decided to listen. As difficult as not working is for me, I trust it’s what I need. Space for pure being before the next phase of doing. Where? Where else but the mother of being — the east. Time to go east. I always knew India would be a part of my path, but I didn’t expect this soon. I saw it as one should see it, the pinnacle, the yin to the west’s yang, the heart to our head, the birthplace of spirituality. The pilgrimage when one is ready for the depth and discipline of the true path of Dhamma, the path of the light. The home/origin of great spiritual leaders and teachers that have been so formative in my journey, Guatama Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Dalai Lama, Paramahansa Yogananda, Osho, to name a few.
So here I am, freshly landed in Delhi on Christmas Eve. I’ll be here for one month followed by Nepal and Sri Lanka, with a planless plan to be like wind—going where I’m pulled and soaking up all the teachings these sacred, wise lands and cultures have to offer. And to start this pilgrimage, I’ll be heading to Bodh Gaya for my first Vipassana silent meditation retreat to begin over the new year, basically a forced *being* for 10 days. TBC