Day 10:  We're here, Now What?

Ava's Take

Today started off beautifully, rounded the corner of panic and finished off shaky but okay. After checking out of Portofino Beach Inn, we took a walk to explore the coffee shop scene. Dylan found a place called Lofty Coffee. I am about to make a very bold statement, here it goes: Lofty Coffee is the most delicious cup of coffee I have ever had. Better than Dominican Republic. Better than Costa Rica. If you don’t believe me, you will have to try for yourself.

Taking in all of the surroundings as we walked through neighborhoods down by the beach, I noticed an air of friendly happiness that permeates all of Encinitas. The genuine smiles of people sitting outside, people working, and people walking are everywhere. It seems everyone who lives in Encinitas actually wants to be there. With each minute that passes, I feel more and more at home.

We found a coffee shop where we could both sit inside and attempted to catch up on emails and all of life that exists in electronic form. Our focus suddenly became that we didn’t have a home yet instead of enjoying the ride. We were both overly serious and the conversation turned drab and solemn. I began to feel like I had made a terrible mistake by coming to California with no plan. I felt lost and trapped and full of despair as though somehow life had taken a horrible turn. It’s funny what resistance does to your psyche. About a month ago I read Steven Pressfield’s War of Art - it’s all about that internal resistance that keeps you from going for your dreams. Pressfield is a little hard and gritty but I admire his work and am thankful I read it before I left. Also thankful that I have it with me to refer back to when I feel that demon resistance popping up to ruin my good time and make me think all is lost and I need to turn around instead of plow forward.

I pulled myself out of the funk long enough to ask for help on shifting my perspective. I sent an email to Stephanie Ingraham (owner of Siyo, http://www.siyo.co/) , an intuitive that I work with in Denver asking for some guidance and praying for a speedy response (which she thankfully delivered).

Stephanie offered a lighter perspective on the matter and it was just what I needed. She presented the situation in a way that lightened the energy around it and therefore made it feel easier to move around in it (she is so good at this!!) After all, it was the first whole day that we were in California. OF COURSE we didn’t have it all sorted out! Imagine that I hadn’t found a place to live and decided which business idea I would go with next and launched it and started making money in less than twenty-four hours. I felt silly for beating myself up and for being so impatient. I pulled a similar move this summer with teaching yoga. I almost quit after one month because all of my dreams hadn’t been realized in that path in slightly under thirty days. Really. I almost (in tears) gave it all up. I swear I used to be the most patient person I knew. I apparently used it all up on other people because I’m telling you, I have NONE for myself and my work.

We left Peet’s Coffee late afternoon and headed to San Elijo Campground to see if we could grab a spot for the next few nights. The sign said campground full but when we pulled up we got a site right away. We are right off the 101 at Cardiff State Beach and I can hear the ocean from our tent. We set up camp and hung out for a bit until the sun went down, then ventured out for some dinner. Camping at the beach is a funny experience because you are actually across the street from day-to-day life. We drove a couple minutes to the famous Seaside Market in Cardiff to grab a quick dinner. Yum. I love this place. As of right now, I think everything is going to turn out just fine.

Dylan's Take

Our morning was wonderful today!  We went for a walk and found my most wonderful thing in the world!?! COFFEE!  This place called Lofty coffee (loftycoffeeco.com) has very delicious coffee, but only downside is if you are getting a single cup of coffee it only comes in one size, but I digress.  We walked down to Moonlight Beach and around the neighborhood.  I happened to see a for rent sign on a mobile home next to the hotel.  I thought that this was a good sign of places to rent and places that are available. 

We checked out of our room and we found a coffee shop a few miles inland to check on emails and life stuff that needed to be taken care of while we were traveling.  As we worked, I felt more and more uneasy about our situation as we had no real plan, no income and no place to live.  I started to feel more and more anxious about the situation and was curious as to where that feeling was coming from.  The more and more I looked for a place, the more worried and discouraged I became.  I had to stop working and do something else. 

Ava and I talked and after it we kind of laughed at our situation, that we had been in CA for less than a day and we worrying for no real reason.  We both decided to enjoy ourselves for the moment and enjoy what CA has to offer and explore the area so that we can get to know it and feel it out so that we can find what calls to us. 

We forget we were supposed to be having fun!