Wanderlust Adventures: The First Step

Deciding to pack up all of my things and move across the country was one of the 'what do I have to lose?' type of decisions.  

I've lived in New Hampshire my entire life. I was born there, I grew up there, I went to college there and I haven't left other than a few week long vacations.  I have never given myself the opportunity to experience life in another place and this was my chance.

 I was signed up to do my yoga teacher training in New Hampshire, but something just didn't feel right about that. The thought of being stuck in New Hampshire for another year was awful, I needed something new. I knew that yoga was the right path, but was staying home? I also had already put a sizable deposit down for my yoga class in New Hampshire, was I willing to lose that and go to California? I thought about it and realized that money comes and goes; I'm 22 and basically supposed to be living the poor, post-grad life, right?

So off to California I went.  It's not like I had randomly chosen California.  Two years ago I did a snowboarding camp with Oakley called "Oakley Progression Session." (Check it out!) It's a freestyle ski and snowboard clinic that's just for women.  During the clinic we got to take a morning yoga class with Lacey Shelton. Lacey is an Oakley ambassador and the manager of the CorePower yoga studios in Orange County, CA.  She is also one of the nicest people I have ever met!  I've kept in touch with Lacey and saw her this past winter when I was in Aspen. I mentioned to her that I was going to do my training and she was so excited.  She said that I should consider heading to SoCal and do yoga at CorePower yoga, so why not?  This was the sign I had been looking for.  I started browsing online for an apartment and talked to my sister and her fiancé, Scott, about my plan. Scott knows a lot of people in a lot of places. He immediately said that his old manager lives in Laguna Beach and that he could definitely help me find a place.  Sure enough his old manager, Andrew, found me a place (Thanks Andrew!) I booked an apartment in Laguna Beach, signed up for yoga teacher training and decided that at the end of the summer I would drive across country and begin my journey as a yogi! 

My road trip across the country was amazing and if I'd had more time to do it (and a large RV) I would have loved to keep going to see more places. The United States has so many amazing sites and I definitely made the most of every stop.  I was also very lucky to have a good road trip buddy who tolerated my back seat driving, constant hangry-ness, and talking about my dog 18 hours a day.  We spent the nights in my car or tent and cooked almost all of our meals on our camp stove.  It truly was a once in a life time opportunity and something that will shape how I live the rest of my life. Sometimes the hardest part is taking the first step, but once you gain momentum, nothing can stop you!