NEXT CHAPTERS

You’re never Aging, You’re BECOMING.

Kathy LIVING AGELESSLY- AN INSIDE JOB!, NEXT CHAPTERS

In every moment, you are BECOMING! … It’s an ageless fact. And in those moments, you always have a choice.

1- To become who you think or THEY think you’re supposed to be.
2- Or become more your authentic self.

“Neither one is wrong… because it’s your choice. And you can change your mind at any time. Even do it in baby steps if that suits you better.”

It’s interesting, over and over I meet women our age … that have been through so many things over the years that it’s challenging when they get a chance to think about…what they want. They have been in moving forward or survival mode for so long they have forgotten what lights them up.

Who are they without what they do for others, their jobs? What did “they” want before? Then add in all the pressure of the media telling them to follow their desires… and reclaim or be the “authentic you.” It’s overwhelming.

What I’ve learned:
Knowing & Reclaiming …is not a singular act. But rather a collection of actions & choices you make at any given time as you feel comfortable. The messiness of human existence will always be a challenge… The reality is it’s never a one time deal.

So keep at it … choose from what you know NOW. And if NOW doesn’t work, then choose another NOW…

You are PERFECTLY on the right step… in the right place…wherever you are on this journey. So if you want to add more, be more, do more DO It! But do it in your own time.

& Never give up till you’re 100% satisfied.

XX Kathy

What’s so wrong with believing things will all work out?

Kathy LIVING AGELESSLY- AN INSIDE JOB!, NEXT CHAPTERS aging, living abroad, living agelessly, self iprovement

So what’s so WRONG with believing it will all work out?

I don’t mean with Naïve optimism …
Nor will bitterness and cynicism…
Or even throwing up our hands and saying ‘F’-it we don’t care.

But trusting there is-a-process in everything believing in that “process.” Considering there’s a bigger picture playing out… Giving up our investment in seeing our mark made in our lifetime …or the seeds of change we’ve planted grow.

What if we saw somethings in our enemies that’s not so bad. Could a willingness to be open, to actually see and listen & adapt to what is rather than continuing to fight what could be the real starting place for a solution.

I think our long lives had shown us enough times when we were wrong, accusing & silence… that doing something else could have made a positive difference… if we had put our egos to the side & use understanding.

Just ask this 14th-century church door & street how many, tears or bloodsheds have been mixed into their surfaces… Only to adapt, be cleaned and polished, and returned to service. What Wars passed by …leaving them to standing to tell the story with their holes and gashed surfaces. We now look at them and see something beautiful. A deep patina of age and experience beauty.

Maybe everything will be fine.

Have Faith… I am

Kathy

Kathy Camp In Spain Kathy Camp is a entrepreneur and successful business owner for twenty-four years. At the age of 50 became a certified yoga instructor and a heath & wellness coach. Passionately Cultivating her brand of Ageless Living & Next Chapters. She is a midlife lifestyle strategist living her present chapter in Madrid Spain where she coaches international clients, creates Transitional retreat for women and is happily in a relationship with her partner renovating a first generational home in 15 century Spanish pueblo.

When to lose your Innocence!

Kathy LIVING AGELESSLY- AN INSIDE JOB!, NEXT CHAPTERS

Remember your first Love?

Seeing something beautiful for the first time. Feeling something move you to “happy” tears?
It can be intoxicating.

That memory can make you blush like when you see two young lovers & their wide-eyes holding each other’s gaze. It reminds you when you felt those same things. When Love and life felt less complicated. Innocence and full of possibilities. And as alluring as innocence can be to try to recapture in some ways…it can become an addiction.

James Hillman Author of The Soul’s Code, called it an “Addiction” when he wrote about our need to leave innocence behind. He calling it;
“The addiction to not knowing life’s darkness? Not wanting to know.” In other words, in order for us to come into consciousness, innocence must be broken.

It’s a strong and controversial statement, I know! But it’s helped me a great deal in coming to terms with my own losses & disappointments. We can not un-know our experiences… returning to a more innocence state.

Fixating on the wrongs that have been done to me or I’ve done to myself … obsessing on how I can wipe the slate clean & return to my former self was exhausting. It was only in seeing my own heartbreaks as necessary learnings that I could see them becoming the means for a more conscious me… life.

And as it turns out …those experiences I use almost daily to navigate this life, my future.

‘It’s surrendering to what is and not resisting & learning that allowed me to open and start to make the changes I want. After all, I now knew so much more about myself and my world.”

Innocence is great and serves a purpose for a time… but the more deeper understanding of life that I long for can only be known through absorbing my experiences. It’s the intimate touching of all the layers and textures in them that increasing my vocabulary-of-emotions & broadens my engagement in life. Helping me to express fully me & understand the unique experience I can co-creating and not just stand by innocently waiting for it to happen to me.

… “The gift of consciousness is a more mature and nuanced relationship to life.”
Says Topoka Turner and her book Belonging.

XX Kathy

Kathy Camp is cultivating her brand of Ageless Living & Next Chapters as a “midlife” strategist based in Madrid, Spain, where she coaches International Clients and hosts Transformational Retreats for Women in Europe. “No More Aimless Wandering Toward Happiness! It’s time to get obsessively specific about what you want & start filling your life with it.”

Curiosity the key to a Passionate Life!

Kathy LIVING AGELESSLY- AN INSIDE JOB!, NEXT CHAPTERS, Self Improvement

How curiosity guided me to my present Passion-filled Chapter in Spain.

MY PERSONAL ADVENTURE BEGAN in 2005. I was going through a challenging time in my life after the death of my father. (The catalyst of that was a complete surprise to me.)

I realized along with other things that on some level that I had never been truly happy. I followed all the how-tos of success that I learned from my father, & — hired coaches, a total of 3 each time I felt stuck.

-Changed my husband for a single life

– Than while growing my business over the next 10 years vacationed & traveled around the world.

– Redecorated my home, then moved out.

– Moved to an “artsy” neighborhood

— Changed friends and church,

…and still no real change in my joy level. Was this normal as we are to work to one day be happy, every model I knew had taught me that.

Let me assure you … I had much to be happy & thankful for, but there can come a time in your life with enough experiences behind you, that you know “things have changed” (I’ll go into that in another post!). And no amount of leisure, spending, or busyness can changed that nagging feeling inside that there-must-be-more. Yet I continued to follow the encouragement to wait while I kept the status quo of career-building, ignoring the anxiousness I felt inside.

But sometimes your unsticks take over. I think in a form of wondering /curiosity and I found myself instinctually turning off the TV, and it’s messaging. Getting up at 5:00 am in the mornings and journaling before I did anything… even days before work. Finally, I arrived at the thought that I had to do something even if that meant to take a LEAP without knowing what the “something more” was.

You might ask how does a person do this? I’ve always teased that I am the poster child for “normal.” No extra gifts, money, or specialness lie in this girl’s life… but what does is an insatiable CURIOSITY. So much, so that is washes away any fear I have of failing that let me tell you is very strong. The writer and, in my opinion, great woman thinker Elizabeth Gilbert says… It’s not passion; we should pursue its Curiosity. Because Curiosity will always create a Passionate life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 2008, even in the recession, I sold my house, and 98% of my other “stuff.” Closed my Interior Design business & disengaged from my amazing clients of 20+ years – and YES that was a BIG DEAL!
My baby, my company for over 20 years, I was now saying goodbye too.
Friends and the people in my industry thought I was crazy!

During this time, I received and got turned on to other ways of spiritual thinking adding to my Catholic background. I received copies of Krishnamurti, The Buddha, and The Dali Lama, and a spiritual opening began.

The journey has been profound for me. I discovered there wasn’t anything outside of myself that needed changing at all – instead, it was what I believed about myself and my world around me that needed work! It was the first time I saw myself as an expression of divine consciousness, and I realized my pain stemmed from my fundamental lack of self-love and limiting beliefs. As a result, I became more curious about finding ways to share my unique gifts and insights. Especially to women of my generation, who had experienced this same tale of empty successes and mix choice options being the first generation of women to leave ‘the home’ for outside work and doing or not doing the child-rearing thing.

It felt natural that I’d move to Spain in 2009. A place I visited once with a dear friend on a 12day vacation and cried on the plane when we left. There was something about being away, or was it because I was out of the environment I thought defined me & I knew so intimately? All I know is that It would catalyze my most profound personal insights.

“Leaving Home, in a sense, involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves.”
-Robert Neelly Bellah

In 2017, I had the privilege to design and Host my first Retreat in Spain, giving birth to our first Women’s Ageless Living Retreats. To assist others on their transformational journeys and to give back what I received. Where I have watched women travelers from faraway places come “home” to themselves, again and again, changing their life perspective from one of fear at a loss or limitations to one of love, acceptance, and limitless possibility. It is truly awe-inspiring, and it feeds my passion for creating unique experiences that free individuals to see their very best in this wonderfully empowering time in their lives.

It is my mission.

If you are interested in our next Women’s Getaway here is a link: Paris and Champagne France, Oct 3-10 2020

We’d love to have you!

XX Kathy

My Perfect Thanksgiving Dinner …Served In Spain

Kathy Living in Spain, NEXT CHAPTERS be grateful, being grateful, experiences, living in Spain, Madrid, tips and advice, Traveling

(image; Unsplashed)

Ah, the mystery of the Thanksgiving Dinner to a Spaniard…

Once a Spanish friend asked, “Is Thanksgiving as important as Christmas in the US? I see it in a lot of movies.” she said.

“Not really,” I answered…

I began to think I needed to introduce my Spanish friends to this truly American experience. Cooking for people who have never had Thanksgiving dinner seemed like an easy chore; how could I go wrong, and I liked the odds of meeting their expectations.

Thanksgiving, the “traditional foods” can be challenging to find in Spain if you don’t live in a more prominent city. I started searching a month earlier, first with the turkey. Spain is not a big turkey eating culture. They think the meat is dry– and I could agree. To ensure a moist turkey, I had my friend in North Carolina send me some oven-bags.

When I told my Spanish friends, I would cook the turkey in a plastic bag, they could not imagine what I meant. One even suggested I save on the expense and shipping and use a plastic grocery bag from El Corte Ingles, a department store here.

“No, it’s not that kind of Bag,” I said.

My North Carolina friend Cristy was ready to help, “…and if you don’t mind, can you throw in some Cranberry Sauce?” Personally, I hate the stuff, but it is a holiday standard, and I thought they should have the whole Thanksgiving experience.

“Oh, and Cristy, make sure to include some cream of mushroom soup, please.” What is Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole?

The Turkey

On this item, all my organic friends would agree I had luck. One of the guests, Javier, had a connection for a fresh turkey… at a friend’s farm, I could buy. His friend insisted we select a female turkey because it’s better tasting than the male. So, of course, I bought one.

Excellent, it was going to be fresh and from a local friend’s farm!

Then I began to wonder how the turkey would be delivered. I told Javier that it needed to come completely featherless, feetless, and of course, headless. Done Javier said, & how primitive do you think we Spanish are?

Now for My Side Dish Menu:

I would need Sweet Potato Casserole, Stuffing with Sausage. My Mom’s Mash Potatoes. Garlic, Brussel Sprouts, Green Bean Casserole, sweeten Carrots and Gravy.

My Challenges !!

– All will have to be from scratch. They do not have any of the items pre-prepped “shortcuts” because they don’t eat them. For example, I will be cutting the white bread into cubes and letting it get stale a couple of days before I make the dressing for the stuffing.

– Next will be translating all the items, including the spices, into Spanish.

– Then it is the quantities conversions into Metric

– And finally, converting the cook times from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

I started the day before completing the casseroles and the stuffing.

(In Spanish Casserole=Carmela and the Stuffing=Relleno says Google Translate, but they don’t exactly stand for the same foods.)

It is the day of the Feast.

THANKSGIVING DAY is not a holiday here, so of course, the guests began to arrive, all six guests, at 8 pm.

Dinner was going to be served “Spanish Style” with wine/beer, nuts, and olives, in advance and lots of conversation. My boyfriend was in charge of this part of the dinner. Allowing me time to run around the kitchen and create that magical synergy where everything comes out hot and on time. (Right!)

First Tiny Problem, I hadn’t accounted for the tiny oven’s overload and its inability to cook the food evenly. So now dinner was going to be ready at 10 pm & only if I served the dishes as they were done.

I decided to take the Turkey to the table to be sliced, buying me more time in the kitchen.

The turkey was finished and beautiful. I set it on the table and knife in hand & asked who wanted to carve it? Second Problem.– No one knew how to cut the TURKEY. Blank stares as the knife was passed among them. I quickly stepped in, gave a demonstration, and assured everyone that the “sacredness of the holiday” did not lie in how the turkey was carved. It’s a Hollywood Movie Myth, I said.

I returned to the kitchen to bring the next fully cooked side dish to the table. With the second cooked sidedish now placed on the table, I told everyone to get started. Planning to be back in a few minutes with another dish.

I did this one-dish delivery two more times.

When I returned, hoping to see smiling faces and full plates, But what I saw plates were plates with only two slices of turkey on them. What was going on? This Feast was their FIRST THANKSGIVING DINNER!!! They did not know how to assemble the food on their plates.

The Spanish diet and typical serving is …one food type at a time. Combinations on one plate are not the standard.

I demonstrated how the plate should look and where the gravy should go. After tasting the strange salty/ sweet foods on their dishes, I got grins of complete satisfaction from everyone.

They loved it! What a relief I felt!!

Dinner lasted two more hours; after clearing the table, we added bottles for mixed drinks in the center. (I just love this Spanish Tradition of lingering around the table with an after-dinner drink.)

We said goodnight as I give some of the girls the recipes of the evening.

It was now about 1:30 or 2 am. As everyone was on their way home… the Cranberry Sauce STILL lay on the table, getting watery.

It seems they dislike cranberry sauce here as well!

What an incredible experience it is sharing my culture with another.

I felt so blessed and grateful for this opportunity. I plan on doing it again next year for my boyfriend’s family.

Where was your favorite Thanksgiving dinner served? Was there anyone at your table that was having their first treat to this classic meal?

Can you share with me your favorite food for Thanksgiving dinner?

Love to hear one of your adventures.

Kathy XX

‹ 1 2 3 4 ›»