Heidi's Healing Adventures: Book Sneak Peek

Happy Aloha Monday, reader!

By now you're back in the swing of the work week, kids are back to school and the new year is here!

It was just about one year ago, when I sitting in my 1-bedroom apartment in Redwood City, CA, staring a pile of unpaid medical bills. Despite my ex causing a legal maze and also being the victim of economic abuse since October of 2023 (and having this subsequent action negatively affect my credit score), I still had financial resources. This included a potion of my 401k (which I began to make withdrawals to pay for rent and basic needs) and some credit lines available. Rather than spend thousands on inflated medical bills, I booked a long weekend trip to Oahu. I had done some 'healing' traveling before that, visiting various parts of California, soaking up as much sun as possible, however the Bay Area was so foggy and overcast, I thought to myself: let me get some real sunshine & replenish my Vitamin D stores!

When I sat down to write about my healing adventures this summer, I was astounded by the personal takeaways and details I could remember about most of travel. I had never done so much solo travel and it doesn't take a genius to see - after reading a few pages of my writing, the main theme is consistent: a woman, is surviving the most best way she can and searching for peace among an avalanche of trauma, imposed by the very people she thought would protect her, at a time of need, all while trying to 'work' with the system, hiring legal representation, etc.

While my book opens with my 4-day weekend trip to Oahu in late January of 2024, it contains many stories of Amtrak train & bus travel during the fall of 2023. Because I did not have local community support (including the medical community - yes, another book was born out of my frustrations / road blocks encountered after an inhumane stay at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA in September of 2023), I spoke my story to a lot of new allies I met along my journey, following my faith it would all work out. 

On one particular combo train/bus trip, returning from SoCal, I met a gentlemen, Bijan, from San Jose, CA. We got so immersed in our conversation, we didn't stop talking for nearly 6 hours! We laughed and pranked his brother Ben at one point. At that time, I didn't have accessible cash/credit, so he bought me a meal from McDonald's in King City. A very kind person! He had lost his wife six months prior and was still feeling that deeply in his heart. What I've found is that while I may not have had many true friends/allies with me the first four decades of my life, I am now on the path where the right people are my friends/allies, as it was so easy to connect with new souls I encountered. I've always valued 1-1 connections and communication more than groups, so if a conversation felt naturally good, I was all in! 

In late 2023, a sweet woman, on an Amtrak trip with her girlfriends, asked me if I was an actress... haha! I quipped "Not officially, but I've become great at pretending things are okay." It was an ironic response from me, as several months earlier I began to up my mental health advocacy efforts in the Bay Area and was one of two people that would even volunteer to speak up / share my story with my journey. But hey! The world was not quite ready to listen to me at that point, and as I recently reflected, I'm simply ahead of my time with my goals/efforts/message, as was George Carlin, one of my favorite comedians.

Back to the travel list!

Investing in myself and remaining true and connected to my faith/beliefs brought me many adventures over the past year. Often, though, understandably, I felt sad, missing my son. Still, I often processed my pain/feelings over the disappointment and betrayal of others in my life (and happy to say, I came a long way in that, at this point!), while finding joy in many moment and as I mentioned, made a lot of beautiful, human connections along the way.

In this book "Heidi's Healing Adventures, via Car, Plane, Bus, Boat & Train", these major US cities are highlighted. (Keep in my mind, I'm not a multi-millionaire and used what resources I could to make this happen. Reflecting back, maybe international trips would have been fun, but that was too much travel - my February trip to Miami was the longest flight I took.)

1. Oahu (Jan, 2024)
2. Sedona (February, 2024)
3. Miami (February, 2024)
4. Seattle (March, 2024)
5. Tempe (March 2024)
6. Palm Springs (2024)

I was fortunate to travel off-season, so rates were usually cheaper than high season, of course.

Call it an act of rebellion or call it not paying bills, but if you were in my shoes (or better yet, my mind), it was the best choice for my mental health and I made the most of every trip. Oh, and I received upgrades along the way, including a 7-seater Escalade on my Oahu trip - which was quite funny as I rented a much smaller vehicle, trying to stay low-key. Haha!

Wishing you well, wherever the road takes you!

With Aloha,

Heidi