The voice of fear and the voice of wisdom

My friend Renee wrote this beautiful piece on change. She and her family are leaving in the Spring to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (AT), a little over 2,000 miles. She says:

What if many "things" I've held onto as security and comfort - routines, beliefs, possessions - turn out to be just optional? What if the things we think we need to be rooted, healthy, and happy are just things in the end, and what really matters is much deeper and harder to cultivate than a garden on a piece of property we call a "homestead"?

And she ends by saying:

Someone asked me recently, about our AT adventure, what I was most afraid of, to which I replied, "the changes that will take place in me".
Then they asked what I was most excited about, to which I replied, "the changes that will take place in me".

And the other day, there was a great exchange on coming back home after a long trip in the traveling families group I belong to. Jennifer Pearce from Pearce On Earth said this:

I think some of the unsettled feelings we have when we're "going home" from traveling have to do with wanting our experiences to have made a difference in deepening our feelings of love and connection with ourselves and the world around us. We want it to matter and have a lasting impact, and we even want more of the same where that came from. Maybe we fear that by going home, we're going back into our old familiar bubble, and maybe we feel like we'll lose what we've gained outside of that, to a certain extent.

I felt that way when we came back. Slowly, I am trying to not let all there is to do at home hinders that connexion with myself and the world around me... I am striving to be as connected to my family as I was when we were traveling together, but truth be told, it requires more effort...

At home, there is so much that pulls us apart; it is so easy to disconnect from each others... and from ourselves. It is a daily practice... or more like an hourly one. Checking in with myself, listening to the voice of grumpiness, the voice of fear, the voice of wisdom... They have a tendency to speak on top of each other since I came back and I am trying my best to tend to each of them. Give empathy to the grumpy one, reassure the fearful one and trust the wise one...