Bridging Worlds

Look
If you had
One shot
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture it
Or just let it slip?

It’s five o’clock on a Friday afternoon in Chiang Mai.

The menacing skies that have been tormenting us all day long with the occasional sprinkle have launched a watery attack. Zillions of enormous droplets are pelting down on us like bullets on tin.

When it rains in Thailand, it really rains.

I’m on my bicycle pedalling my way slowly amongst the rush-hour traffic; through the old town, around the moat and between the bricks of Tapae Gate towards home. Both of my tyres are completely flat but I feel like I’m levitating.

My leopard print jumpsuit,  which all of the locals seem to love, is sodden and clinging to me, my hair is soaked through and happy tears from heaven are streaming down my face.

I’ve got Eminem blasting out in my ears and my body is twitching rhythmically to his genius lyrics.

My body is intoxicated with a frenzied glee that’s oozing out of my pores. My eyes are bright and I’m smiling – yet again uncontrollably. Squeals of excitement are rising up from my stomach  and I don’t care who hears.

It all seems too good to be true.

Yoga Ballin’

Snap back to reality and one of my many Digital Nomad ventures, originally called All My Heroes Consulting, has since evolved into Consciously Curated; business transformation strategies – consciously curated for you. 

I needed experience working with a conscious brand and as if by magic, I’m at the helm of one while the owners have relocated to the UK. What started off as a volunteering stint writing a few blogs and being paid in breakfast fruits has resulted in the ultimate opportunity for all involved.

I’ve pitched for three months, with three volunteers and three strategic initiatives to take a long-standing family run brand that could do with a little direction and a little consistency,  and have promised to propel it forward to success.

In return, I’ve upgraded my salary from bananas and coffee to actual pocket-money and a guaranteed roof over my head until at least the end of January.

And for me right now,  that’s hitting jackpot.

Bridging Worlds

But it gets better.

I’m new in the business. I’m inexperienced and broke. But I have a dream. I truly believe that it’s not only a good one, but also an honourable one. Do you want to join?

I wasn’t even browsing Facebook, I think the app opened accidentally and the first thing I saw was this post by Hanokhin Zion in the Chiang Mai Digital Nomads group.

He told of how he’d arrived in Chiang Mai two months ago with the aim of starting a social enterprise. His idea was  to create a fashion label – one that is ethical and sustainable.

He had no background as an entrepreneur or a fashion designer,  he actually spent ten years working as a social worker in France supporting disadvantaged teens. But this was wanted and he was going to make it happen.

In another realm maybe his speech would rally up the right troops, but in this one he was chewed up and spat out and booed off stage.  The negative shouts had almost stopped him from following his dreams. But he didn’t give up that easy.

An army of goosebumps marched over my arms as I read how Angels had showed up in human form to help him along his way.

So did I want to join?  Of course I did.

ONE EARTH ONE TRIBE

We met for coffee at Peppermaint Cafe,  a cute little rustic coffee shop in the North East corner of Chiang Mai old town.

I was my usual uncontrollably excitable self and came armed with brand names and ideas, but first,  I sat back and patiently sipped my strong, bitter black Americano as Hanokhin told me his story.

It was one of conscious awakening which began eighteen months ago; the kind of story that ignorance could stifle but curiosity turns into a waking dream.

I was enraptured by his bright-eyed magic.

He’s on a mission to bring together a global community of conscious travellers under the name One Earth,  One Tribe which creates a unique,  high vibrational space for people to connect, play, transform and grow.

His clothing line, Bridging Worlds, is not just conscious on the surface level as I’d first expected. Yes, his apparel will be made of natural fibres and produced by Hill Tribe workers but it’s turned out to be much more than that.

It’s promoting a level of consciousness that more and more people are starting to understand and experience as we move toward a new world order. It’s about people and products that are awake. It’s a community of truth-seekers and wisdom-sharers,  those who challenge the norms and don’t listen to what they’re taught, they listen to what they feel.

And I wanted to be part of it all.

CONSCIOUSLY CURATED

Consiously Curated’s mission is to help conscious brands grow.

I could have embellished this statement with fancier words or a little bit more corporate fluff but what’s the point when your  purpose is so beautifully honest and simple that it doesn’t need decorating.

Because I truly do want to help conscious brands grow.

This world is mine for the taking. I never want to charge extortionate rates, I never want to work with people or brands I don’t believe in,  I never want to be suffocated by a wordy contract or glued to one part of the planet. I want to be free; free to help whoever I want,  however I want and most importantly,  free to be a good human in everything I do.

There was something magic in an article I read a few years ago when I was drowning a sugary death in canned peach procurement. It was at the time when threats of Grexit were shaking up commerce in Greece. Farmers,  producers, suppliers, service operators and communities had reverted back to a bartering system – an exchange of goods and services instead of cash.

It was these few sentences I’d read at a mind-numbingly beige time of  my life that started to reshape the way I perceived value and I then went on to experience it first hand – money doesn’t mean anything really.

So now that I’ve guaranteed a roof over my head and some pennies in the jar, I can get by with my nine to five and I’m offering up my commitment to Bridging Worlds for free.

You can do anything you put your mind to,  man.