Be Still
Funny how I hear this statement all the time. Someone tells me to “be still” at least twice a week. Whether it be because they think I’m going too hard with work, play or motherhood (if that’s even possible), I am constantly told to “be still”. Until recently, that phrase really had no meaning to me - at least not since I was a kid, and my mom would tell me to “be still” in church. But when you’re forced to be still by circumstances out of your control, you start to wonder if sitting still is such a bad thing after all.
2024 was a year for change for me. I finally set out to live my dreams of being a world school (as opposed to homeschool) teacher, work-from-anywhere, ExPat life. I’d said for years that this was the life I wanted to live and after months of asking the universe for guidance on what my next steps should be, the answer was to do what I wanted to do…now! I lost a lot of loved ones in 2024 and it began to dawn on me that time waits for no (wo)man; and I didn’t want to miss out on doing the one thing I’ve always said I wanted to do. The timing wasn’t ideal, but when I thought about it, the timing never seems quite right for anything that I have planned, so I decided the time was now. So, I packed up my 2 kids and relocated to Costa Rica.
The transition was seamless. There were no hiccups in any phase of the journey, from terminating my house and car leases early, packing up my whole house and shipping it abroad, to enrolling the kids in school abroad. Every barrier that I thought I would endure in the process was nonexistent. It was then that I knew that I was in alignment with what the Most High had in store for my life at this time.
Interestingly enough, I tried ExPat life in 2021. I packed up my life, booked a 3-month trip to Jamaica on a one-way ticket, and was on my way to freedom (or so I thought). I was beyond excited, but apparently, the universe had other plans. First, my COVID test came back positive. Minor setback, I could work around that. Then, I realized that my son’s passport expired in April and there was no real work around that. COVID had the world shut down and that includes the passport office. I was losing money and sleep trying to make sense of this entire scenario. Most of my belongings were in storage, everything else was in suitcases, and I’d been turning away work for weeks so that I could focus on being a teacher to my kids, non-negotiable self-care, and becoming a Sacred Woman.
Needless to say, I was pissed. And confused. But then I kept thinking that there had to be a reason things weren’t working out in my favor. The universe sent me in this direction, so I had to trust that all of these impediments to travel were protecting me from something. So, I was forced to sit still.
In that stillness, I learned that freedom and happiness are an inside job and were not attached to living abroad on white sandy beaches with turquoise waters. I had to be free in my mind so that I wasn’t carrying the same baggage with me overseas. The idea is to pack light, and apparently, I hadn’t mastered that part yet, so the universe was forcing me to sit still until I did.
Prior to then, I don’t think there had ever been a time where I gave myself time and space to sit still without being on vacation. It was like I didn’t associate home with peace and tranquility or freedom of any sort. But that shifted for me when I began to make self-care a non-negotiable and when I began to have a thorough understanding of what self-care entailed. Self-care goes beyond the spa days and trips and can be practiced daily at home or wherever you might be. Real self-care, however, is about building sustainable habits that support our mental, emotional, and physical health on a regular basis. It’s about creating rituals and routines that help us to maintain resilience and joy, no matter what’s happening around us. Self-care is a proactive way of living that supports overall well-being. Whether it’s through mental health support, physical activity, or spiritual practices, self-care has become central to many people’s lives as a way to manage the pressures of a fast-paced, often overwhelming world.
But even with this deeper understanding of self-care, I discovered there was one practice that truly transformed everything for me: the art of being still. It was in those rare moments of intentional stillness that I began to hear the whispers of my own soul, to reconnect with a sense of peace that didn’t rely on external circumstances. Being still wasn’t just about resting or pausing—it was about learning to be present with myself, to sit with my thoughts and emotions without distraction, and to create space for clarity and alignment. It taught me that self-care isn’t just about doing; sometimes, it’s about simply being.
So, here’s to finding peace and freedom within the stillness of wherever we might be at the time. Happiness is an inside job. Be still until you find it.