Life on the run

By: Jackie Boat

This summer has been absolutely action packed. I feel as though I have been living like a drifter on the run from the law, but that is probably just my imagination getting away with me. I swear that I am a regular law-abiding citizen, though I haven’t spent a full week at home for the past two months. Lately it seems there is always some event or place to spread the word on solar assistance, whether it be client calls, fairs, classes, conferences, or retreats. This leads me to travel hundreds of miles in just one or two days and sleep in strange places on the regular. It is both maddening and so very fun!

 When you are constantly on the road and staying in strange cities, you get really good at packing up your life into nice little portable packages. I have traveled a lot in my life, and there is something so fundamentally exciting about living out of a suitcase. It forces you to cut all unnecessary items out of your life for a while, and if you forgot something, you simply have to improvise. Sometimes this means using hand soap from the public bathroom as temporary deodorant (it does work!), but not all challenges are so…troubling. Overall, you learn to let go of the small things and how to enjoy breaking free of the routine. You just have to be yourself and get things done, whether your pits smell oddly like generic soap or not.

After all the madness, the long drives home are a great time for contemplating my experiences and putting things in order in my mind. When I return home, I find that I appreciate the extra comforts a little more. My cats also appreciate my presence a whole lot more. Being on the move puts a fresh perspective on the mundane and frequently puts you outside of your comfort zone. I live for the possibilities for growth that come along with travel and varied interactions with others. Even though the constant motion can drive me a little insane, that is part of the fun. I expect to be a lifelong traveler and love that travel is a big part of my work.