I remember someone wise saying to me, ‘the journey never ends… it just changes’.
This was in response to my 27-year-old self announcing that I didn’t want to ‘settle down,’ that I wanted to keep on globe-trotting, keep on exploring the world. I was drawn to the magic of traveling. I gained so much inspiration and knowledge from visiting other cultures and challenging myself that I couldn’t imagine a better way to experience life.
Then I travelled to Australia which was meant to be just a year of work and travel. But one thing led to another and I kept extending my visa… I wrote an album in the outback and then fell in love. Flash forward 7 years and I am still in Australia living on a small island (Magnetic Island), with two beautiful children under the age of four. The journey definitely hasn’t ENDED it has just CHANGED, and I finally get it!
Which brings me to the reason why I am here writing and you are here reading…
What happened when I had kids was I was so consumed with the crazy, all-encompassing task of being a mom that I put aside all the things that had previously lit me up. Traveling and music took a back-burner. Eventually I hit rock bottom, I felt like I had lost myself. I felt like I had lost my soul.
Every parent loves their children to the moon and back. The whole experience turns you upside down and tips out all the stuff that doesn’t matter anymore. But there is a time for most of us that is blurred by a lack of sleep, a lack of balance and a crazy sense of humility. You’re learning to be a parent… forget everything you knew before! There’s so much love, but in my case I really lost my sense of self. I remember a pivitol moment sitting at the kitchen table, exhausted and lost, wondering how I was going to get back on my feet.
As many people say, the wonderful thing about hitting the bottom is there is only one way to go from there. UP. And, for me, I also had to go IN. The part of the journey I had to include was an inside job. I had to recover my S O U L. And this has been an amazing gift. I am now grateful that things got enough that I had to make changes.
My recipe has been yoga + music + mindfulness + being real + loving myself + writing music + meditation + reading + gratitude… And when I fall off I jump back on to something that feeds my heart.
So here we are… the next phase! The journey has changed, and I am so grateful to be here doing what I love again.
-terra
