Slow life, rainbows and friendships
How travelling has changed my life
When I landed in Europe in the summer of 2022, I thought I would simply convert my old sedentary life into a nomadic one. My habits would just be adapted to their new surroundings. I used to have toast with peanut butter and chilli for breakfast. I would work from 8am to 5pm every day as much as possible. Supper at 7pm and bedtime at 10pm. Weekends devoted to furthering my passions, reading and watching films.
But when you change where you do life, life changes the way you do you.
Now that I live in France, breakfast is Camembert and goat’s cheese on baguette. (And, um no, French people don’t do that, cheese is only eaten after a meal, this is my hybrid way of doing things…)
My life has slowed down so much in the year and a half since I have been here. I wake up late in the morning, really listen to my internal clock and don’t force myself to run and do things just because it feels like I should be highly productive to be a worthy human. I acknowledge that when I was a mother of two I had no choice but to run around like a headless chicken taking care of everything that needed to be done. It needed to be done. I needed a greater income for three of us in a big house with pets, a garden and staff, so I had to work harder. Now it’s just me, in my little bus on wheels. I earn less than I’ve ever done in my entire life, and it’s okay. I love my life so much, my heart wants to burst every time I see a rainbow or cuddle a friendly dog.
The sun only sets after 10pm in summer so how are you supposed to go to bed when it’s still light out ?? There’s so much life to be lived - in fact even after dark, as I discovered, there’s so much to be experienced, and in winter you have to learn to be awake in the dark hours of the day or you might as well be a hibernating bear... To explain, in South Africa, the latitude is such that there isn’t a great difference in the length of days in winter and in summer, so life doesn’t change to such an extent as it does in Europe.
Nowadays I don’t work all day and every day, I am slightly embarrassed to admit it - since my expenses are so much lower in a motorhome than they were in a big house, I only feel the need to work a few hours of every day, sometimes not even at all, and on the weekends I do if I need to because they’re only just days when shops close at inconvenient hours… Time flows like a slow river, every day comes and goes, whether you do something about it or not. I worked long and hard for my client base before I became a nomad, and now, I have all my systems in place and ride the waves I can catch. That’s not to say I don’t work hard and professionally, of course I do, it’s just that I don’t stress as much if I don’t make the top figures that I used to do - my priorities have changed. Instead I have more time for perfectionism.
In South Africa I could do everything online. Emails, enquiries, work, shopping, socialising, everything. I hardly ever left the house after I got into that way of living with the Covid lockdowns. It suited my introvert self perfectly. In France, emailing isn’t nearly as efficient as telephoning. And I have had an irrational fear of the telephone for as long as I can remember. That had to be overcome quickly if I was going to survive here… Out in the countryside there are no grocery and restaurant deliveries, it’s up to you to go into shops and that at least gets you out of your chair. OK, Amazon is the best thing since sliced bread here and the post office works like a bomb here so if you need anything out of the ordinary, there is no better way.
Restaurants are expensive in France, so I barely treat myself to one in a month, if I find somewhere really worthwhile. That means I make my own food more often and eat a lot less and healthier in the end. And if you want a takeaway pizza, they have pizza vending machines on the village squares ! And also fresh bread, vegetables straight out of the soil, and seafood right out of the sea, in vending machines stocked daily. In South Africa, there's no such thing. These machines would be burgled in a heartbeat... Or you could go pick your own fruit and vegetables in the fields and orchards under the farmer’s supervision ! Or plan low-tide excursions on the beach for your next weekend meal. Or simply visit the weekly local produce market for everything you need, with a bonus of fresh air and human conversation. You can't imagine how exceptional this is for someone who comes from South Africa!
While I was still searching for my bus, I had a conversation with a young distant cousin who was living a nomadic life in a motorhome, working seasonal jobs and staying with friends all over the country. It sounded like some sort of tramp utopia and not at all what I thought I would be doing. I figured I don’t know anyone in France really, I won’t be doing that. I had another kind of life in mind. One where I proudly define myself by my profession, with very few friends, just moving from place to place all the time. Well, somehow, life took me by the horns, not the other way around. I discovered I already knew people all over the country that I started tying up with again, made a whole lot of new friends in unexpected ways with whom I ended up spending time, and seasonal jobs in the tourism and agriculture industries are starting to make a whole lot of sense !
I have never met so many people in my life before. People from places and backgrounds I would never have crossed paths with in my old life. I am no longer afraid of people - I can barely understand how I ever was ! And as I said in a post last year, even though I set out to discover the land I was born in, it’s the human connections I have made along the way that have meant more to me and shown me more about this country than the collection of books on my dashboard shelf !
Living this life has changed me. My priority is no longer to work as hard as I can to make as much money as I can so I can pay for things that are supposed to make life worth living. To have an occupation and fancy possessions that give me status among my peers is no longer important. My peers are no longer those for whom occupation and status are important ! Life is worth living when you find joy in the smallest flower and the most fearful storms, when you experience the roller-coaster of love and the warmth of friendship, the hospitality of strangers and the joys of sharing what little you have with them, the love of a dog and the friendship of a cat. It’s a combination of all the small things.
“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
Alan Watts
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
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I write this blog because I love writing, and so that my friends and family around the world can follow my adventures. If we've just met on the road or online, go ahead and subscribe so that the next episode lands straight in your mailbox. Also, I write in both English and French, so you can follow both if you want to practice the language, but if you don't, feel free to unsubscribe from either. If you know someone who needs a little inspiration, share one of my articles with them!
Lovely post Gaelle x
Loving following your joyful journey rediscovering life and self