Finding Inspiration Through Alternative Lifestyles

posted 12th December 2010    Written by: Lindsey    CATEGORY: Inspiration, Lindsey, Season 3

I’m writing this from the middle of the ocean. The only people I have seen in the past week are my three other crewmates and my own face in the mirror. There is no phone or internet because, well, it’s the middle of the ocean.

Asking me to define the most inspirational person in my life at this very moment, is kind of like asking me what my favorite color is. There aren’t many choices in this narrow vision I have right now. My favorite color is the deep blue of the ocean. What other color is there? All I see, in every direction, is this amazing shade of blue that I’ve never experienced until I hung my waist over the bow of the boat and stared into the purest, bluest, mystery of deep ocean. It eats up my eyeballs like a great work of art.

Besides blissful blue, I am surrounded by the captain of the ship and my two fellow crewmates who I am just beginning to know. We’ve only met a few weeks ago and we’re suddenly living alone in a rocking ship, working around the clock to harness the power of the ocean, the power of the wind to move ourselves and our boat miles and miles to the crystaline coves of the Bahamas. The exhaustion is heavy because standing straight up requires so much effort, and in the healing isolation of being so entirely distant, I find inspiration in each person who has touched my past, who has made my future brighter, clearer, and more hopeful.

From my place right now, adrift in an ocean of dreams coming true, I hold each person who has helped me to reach this point close in my heart. I carry a piece of them with me. I literally think of them every day and their influence continues to guide me towards my vision of future.

In Maui, I learned from my host how grow my own food using natural methods, how to fast. He inspires me to live off the grid, to pursue an alternative lifestyle and to work for my own food revolution.

In Molokai, I saw how to live off the land and how to nourish my body to optimum health. I experienced life on a yoga retreat, where the major projects were building structures of reclaimed materials and designing a raw food menu for guests visiting from their stressful lives. My friends inspire me to strive for my healthiest, happiest, most free self.

In Oklahoma I experienced a budding community of yogis and young families, coming together to live as a unit on a shared property, to build their homes by their own design and by their own hands, to grow their own food, and live as sufficiently as possible. They inspire me to seek out my own community and home.

In Tahoe, I spent a lot of time drinking coffee and eating waffles with an elderly man who lived by his own theory of happiness. Warren worked as a reverend in a bustling Tahoe wedding chapel, marrying people and acting as wedding photographer, firmly acting on his will that if he must work for money, he would do it working only with people in their happiest moments, to chose to bring happiness into his life. He would work doing what he enjoyed, so that it didn’t have to be hard or uncomfortable. He inspires me to earn my living doing what I love and what makes me happy, and to never sacrifice my happiness out of fear.

Now, in pursuing my own dreams, I hold what I’ve gained from each of my mentors and inspirations and something of each of them passes through my mind each day. I am designing my own life, based on what I’ve learned from each of these lives, and from what I continue to learn from my friends across the country, from my new friends aboard this boat, from the future lifestyles that I’ll be sure to encounter and experience. I’m a lifestyle anthropologist, and I get my inspiration from people living full, amazing lives.

{photo :  me getting dirty in my garden in Hawaii}

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Comments (10)

10 Responses to “Finding Inspiration Through Alternative Lifestyles”

  • marianschembari Says:
    December 12th, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    I am so obsessed with you right now. Great post, girly :)

    Favorite line: "It eats up my eyeballs like a great work of art." Did I mention I'm obsessed with you?

  • erinmakesitwork Says:
    December 12th, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    I am adoring this post! It's inspiring me to find inspiration everywhere. :)

  • Alisha Says:
    December 12th, 2010 at 8:29 pm

    Ditto Marian and Erin. Thank you so much for the reminder to find the inspiration in all of the everyday, normal yet especially amazing people we meet during the course of our lives.

  • Lindsey Says:
    December 13th, 2010 at 12:50 pm

    Aww, thanks :)

  • Lindsey Says:
    December 13th, 2010 at 12:51 pm

    DO IT! Always be looking, its the easiest way to stay on top of your game.

  • Lindsey Says:
    December 13th, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    In the end, we are all the aggregate of our experiences… and most experiences are from the people in our lives.

  • Ali Says:
    December 13th, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    You are amazing. Truth.

  • suki Says:
    December 13th, 2010 at 6:24 pm

    I love this post, and you're so right! :) We are a culmination of our experiences.

  • Lindsey Says:
    December 17th, 2010 at 6:54 am

    Oh! THANK YOU! xoxo

  • Lindsey Says:
    December 17th, 2010 at 6:55 am

    … so choose good ones. Thanks!

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