THE WANDERLUSTERS MIND PODCAST

Abby Lewtas 23/10/18 Abby Lewtas 23/10/18

Learning from the French by finding joy in 'living' with Alex Morton.

Alex, 25, is a self-proclaimed lifelong explorer who has started her own website design business, Alex Morton Creative, to achieve her dream of working remotely from anywhere in the world. Over on her blog, she delves deep into life- and entrepreneurial stories, and she loves meeting and connecting with other female travellers, business owners, and wanderlusters.

Alex moved to France to study abroad and returned to California for University. She knew this trip was not the ‘be all and end all’ of her travels.

About Alex

Alex, 25, is a self-proclaimed lifelong explorer who has started her own website design business, Alex Morton Creative, to achieve her dream of working remotely from anywhere in the world.

Over on her blog, she delves deep into life- and entrepreneurial stories and she loves meeting and connecting with other female travellers, business owners, and wanderlusters.

Alex, originally from California, has always been called to France - from the language to the culture to the appreciation of the simple things. Her life in France began in 2013 when she arrived in Paris to study for a semester. She later returned and 'cemented' herself into her life in France. Since then, Alex has been au pairing, teaching English, falling in love and is now making arrangements to become a full resident!

“Put yourself out there for opportunities but do not stress out if it doesn’t work out.”

— Alex Morton

When coming home...

Emotions Alex faced - Found it to be like a puzzle on how to fit back in with her community, friends and family, including how her thinking had shifted.
What changed for Alex - Was really excited to come back to take advantage of her university experience. Had a feeling that she would return to France.
The biggest stress - Getting caught up in the different identities that she had in different communities and how she would show up in the world.
How Alex supported herself - Focused on university, found people that she could talk to and who could relate to her. Pick and choose who support you.
How Alex used her mindset - Aimed to feel comfortable and feel grounded in a place that is not her home. Not feeling like you have to stay in the town where you grew up.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Be adaptable and be open to experiences.
Cultivate relationships you have with your friends and family.
Treat everyone as an adventure and be ok with not knowing.

Advise to herself for returning home - Dont stress about having a plan in place because everything will change. Put yourself out there for opportunities but do not stress out if it doesn’t work out.

“People are not going to be like you and are not going to do things they way you are used to doing things.”

— Alex Morton

An intuitive journey to Finland and her soul purpose with Tahlee Rouillon.

Tahlee Rouillon is music composer extraordinaire at Sonesence. She helps people become the calmest person they know, through her transformational meditones music. Meditones help produce relaxed brainwaves with a simple pair of headphones, making deep meditation effortless. Tahlee has been described as 'a musical genius', and 'the voice of an angel’.

Tahlee followed her intuition and returned to writing music, meditons and meditation tracks and found herself on an artist residency in Finland.

About Tahlee

Tahlee Rouillon is music composer extraordinaire at Sonesence. She helps people become the calmest person they know, through her transformational meditones music.

Meditones help produce relaxed brainwaves with a simple pair of headphones, making deep meditation effortless. Tahlee has been described as 'a musical genius', and 'the voice of an angel’.

Tahlee went to Finland, travelling solo for the first time to write her meditones album True North. It was based on the silence and stillness of a Nordic winter. She returned to Finland in 18 months later to write my follow up album, Luminous, based on a Nordic summer.

“You have been uprooted. You need to take time and space to take care of yourself.”

— Tahlee Rouillon

When coming home...

Emotions Tahlee faced - Felt very homesick for Finland.
What changed for Tahlee - Moved cities which she thought would be the same things as travelling.
How Tahlee supported herself - Relied on her meditation practice and her meditones. Cried a lot and called friends. Ended up creating a program called gentle transition to help herself and others.
How Tahlee used her mindset - Used the resilience that she had cultivated on her travels.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Life is not the same as travel.
People vary and people are different.
Tahlee is a highly sensitive person and needs to nourish in her downtime.

Advise to herself for returning home - Slow down, take your time, there is no rush. Allow things to unfold in divine timing because they are going to anyway!

“We drove past the place that I saw in my meditation that has the glass-domed iglus!”

— Tahlee Rouillon

Understanding identity after travelling the world with Jema Patterson.

Jema spent 8 years as a full-time international travel writer. This year - 2018 - she's experimenting with part-time travel life and having a home base. She spends her time writing about transformational travel at Half the Clothes dot com and co-hosting a podcast about how to be a content creator without losing your mind or selling your soul. She blames all her failures AND all her successes on being struck by lightning at the age of 18.

Travelling for 8 years continually teaches Jema about patience, letting go and forming her identity.

About Jema

Jema spent 8 years as a full-time international travel writer. This year - 2018 - she's experimenting with part-time travel life and having a home base.

She spends her time writing about transformational travel at halftheclothes.com and co-hosting a podcast about how to be a content creator without losing your mind or selling your soul.

She blames all her failures AND all her successes on being struck by lightning at the age of 18.

“I wish that I would have been more willing at the time to ask for help.”

— Jema Patterson

When coming home...

Emotions Jema faced - Joyful as well as jarring.
What changed for Jema - Had a different perspective on things like ‘how big the roads were,’ ‘What she could and couldn’t find in the grocery story,’ ‘driving on the other side of the road.’ Having an identity shift.
- Jema explains the Theory of identity development
  - Identity Diffusion - have not created an identity.
  - Identity Foreclosure - absorb the culture around you and you.
  - Identity Moratorium - unsure of what is really happening.
  - Identity Achievement - coming to terms with who you are.
How Jema supported herself - Accept and realise that her identity has changed. Journaling on some questions that spring to mind. Ask your friends to help you. Have faith. Trying to find podcasts or videos or structures to support you.
- Ted Talk - How to quit your life and reboot.
- Ted Talk - How to find your life purpose in 5 minutes.
How Jema used her mindset - More patience with herself, more willing to change expectations. Learning to let go.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Having patience.
The perspective shift.
Travel has taught Jema to rest.

Advise to herself for returning home - Its ok to ask for help. Being humble and worthy of the support around and people willing to help her.

“I love the perspective shift that comes with travel, I don’t know if I’m ever going to settle down.”

— Jema Patterson

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Abby Lewtas 18/9/18 Abby Lewtas 18/9/18

Paralympic gold medal, 60 countries and a never give up mentality with Richard Colman

Richard was born in 1984 with Spina Bifida. Richard took to sport at a young age he was involved in many sports before the love of athletics took his full attention. In 2006 Richard won a Bronze medal in the T53 800m at the IPC World Athletics Championships in Assen, The Netherlands. In 2008 Richard won a Silver medal in the T53 200m and a Bronze in the T53 400m at the Beijing Paralympic Games.

Paralympian Richard Colman merges sports and travel with passion, energy and refusing to give up to ensure he lives his best life.

About Richard

In early 2009 Richard spent six months travelling Europe competing in a number of countries. During this trip, Richard managed to visit thirty-two countries. Richard has now visited sixty countries with the aim of reaching 100.

Recently at the 2012 London Paralympic Games, Richard won a Gold medal in the T53 800m and two Bronze medals in the T53 400 and in the T53/54 4x400 relay. Richard currently holds a numerous Australian and Oceania Records.

Away from the track Richard has completed a Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University and has also completed a number of other qualifications. Richard became the first person in a wheelchair to umpire an AFL match when he officiated as a goal umpire in the Geelong Football League in 2007.

During 2014 Richard became the first person in a wheelchair to travel down the famous Death Road in Bolivia during his postseason holiday to South America. Richard is an ambassador for a number of foundations and organisations.

Richard has set himself a number of goals he is slowly working towards not just in the sporting world but in all walks of his life. Richard will continue to try and prove to people that anything is possible if you have a go and always dream big.

“There are a lot of countries that do have a lot of discrimination against people with disabilities there are a lot of third world countries still to this day don’t admit that there are people with disability in their society.”

— Richard Colman

When coming home...

Emotions Richard faced - Sometimes it felt normal, some people around him seemed to be doing the same thing whilst he was achieving my goals. The longer trips seem harder to readjust. What is the next challenge, reassess the next goals.
What changed for Richard - No too much he ensured he weaved adventure into his sporting travels. Made sure he put himself out there to enjoy life and do things that other people wouldn't.
How Richard used his mindset - Growing up with a disability he becomes stubborn and resilient which helped foster a strongly focused mindset. Knowing that success is just around the corner. Taking action and really believing himself. Never give up attitude.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

Anything is possible.
There will be tough times but you have to believe in yourself.
Don't worry about the money.

Advise to himself for returning home - think about when I'm going to come home so that I dont have to endure a long winter. Go and travel now and don't wait to travel.

“No matter how bad things are, good days are around the corner and you cant give yo”

— Richard Colman

Fostering resilience, gratitude and independence during travels with Rowena Mabbott.

Rowena is a Life Coach and writer and was bitten by the travel bug early with her first round-the-world trip at age eleven. Since then she has travelled to attend school in the US, lived and worked in the UK, travelled through Europe and Africa. Rowena loves planning family travel and is now committed to ensuring her two boys are also bitten by the travel bug.

Rowena stepped out of her comfort zone and begun to form her independence. She now helps others through difficult transitions.

About Rowena

As a 16-year-old, Rowena attended school in the midwest of the US over Thanksgiving & Christmas. Then, as an 18-year old she worked as a housemistress in an English boarding school for 12 months on a GAP year, travelling through the UK and Europe on weekends and during the school holidays.

Both experiences tested Rowena's resilience and broadened her view of the world putting her out of her comfort zone and living with people she either barely knew or who were complete strangers. That alone was an adjustment. Rowena also became much more aware of how fortunate and grateful she was to live where she does

“Travelling is really different and it’s amazing but its also quite a good reminder about how fortunate we are that we don’t have to have that experience of living in one space and not know anything about anywhere else.”

— Rowena Mabbott

When coming home...

Emotions Rowena faced - She felt lonely and alone with no friends. She felt like she didn't fit in anywhere. She felt uncomfortable and a sense of longing to head back to the UK.
What changed for Rowena - Willing to meet other people (and her how people) and put your self out there. Being friendly and opening conversations.
Biggest stress - No money and being a complete dependant with no job to return to. Fostering new and old friendships back home.
How Rowena used her mindset - Used mantras like "you can do this." and "it's not so bad." Knowing that she was stronger than she thought she was because of her travelling experiences. Feeling grateful for her family and living in Australia.
3 Lessons learned from travel and reverse culture shock

You never know someone else's story and not to judge people based on your own assumptions.
Change is a constant but we can choose how we approach it.
Travelling is the best way to learn about yourself.

Advise to herself for returning home - Don't stress out, it will all work out. Give yourself time, find your people and it will all fall into place.

“Everybody has got a story and unless you take the time to say hello and greet them, you might not know it.”

— Rowena Mabbott

The one thing to do if you feel in a funk.

There are many things you can do if your struggling with the transitions, that in itself can be overwhelming. But undeniably the most important area of focus is your mindset. You must go to work on levelling up your mindset To create a conscious awareness around your thoughts and start to take control and own what you are thinking about so, if need be you can start to change it.

What do you do if you're feeling stuck, lost or feeling in a funk after your travels.

“Change the way you look at things and the way you look at things change”

— Wayne Dyer

What do you do?

How do you level up your mindset, Change your state and create new beliefs for yourself?

If you are constantly feeling sad, upset, confused, lost or frustrated with certain areas of your life, it is worth looking at what your thoughts are creating around those areas and begin making changes. There are many ways you can start to tap into your mind and create new behaviours and patterns. Ultimately you need to get yourself into alignment.

4 practices to get into alignment

Meditation / Mind awareness
Visualisation
Conscious creation and showing up as you want to be (taking inspired action)
Movement

Final Thoughts

If you are feeling in a funk after returning home from travel or any other challenging situation, start by looking at your mindset. Ask yourself these questions...

What thoughts am I thinking that are making me feel this way?
How do I want to feel?
How can I change my state, at this very moment, to make me feel the way I want to, what can I do that will make me feel joy?

Consciously start to take control and reprogram your mind to a place that serves you better so you can start feeling in alignment.