Tai Chi

I'm back from a week-long tai chi workshop back East. It was the first time I'd gone for a week-long workshop, having only done weekend workshops until now, and it was the first time my daughter and I had been away from each other for more than two nights as well. It was also the first time I'd been on an airplane since 2008, and while I don't have anxiety about flying, the carbon footprint of flying *does* concern me, which is why I don't travel much by plane.

The workshop was fantastic and opened my mind in many ways. There were 650 participants from more than 20 countries. You'd sit down for lunch with people from different countries and speaking different languages and that experience made me realize how sheltered a life I lead, lol!

I spent the week camping; they'd sent up a tent city for all of us who'd brought tents. Having to pack everything you'll need for a week (tent incl) into one piece of luggage is... freeing. That, and I read more voluntary simplicity books during the week (my dh often teases me about how reading puts new ideas into my head!)... and I came home wanting to declutter even more... sell off a bunch of things that just take up space. I'm ready to let go of them. It's interesting when you get to the point of being ready to let things go.

Of course, coming back home meant facing all the things left undone before I left... actually, it wasn't completely overwhelming. But like my last post, I'd managed to forget about the financial worries for an entire week (which was really nice) but came home to a bit of stress there, and a few other things.

Overall though, I'm so glad I was able to go to the workshop and learned so much. I'm so grateful for that experience but also happy to be back home now.