The short answer - yes! Yes...all of this languishing needs to stop. I haven't recorded an episode in a few weeks - this episode serves as a little catch up. We'll probably need next week to catch up too. But, for now, I give you Episode 4!

Have you read Adam Grant's article from the NY Times about languishing? A quick read....

(https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.html)

It is clear to me that I am languishing. And that is where today's podcast starts.

Episode 2 picks up where Episode 1 ended, at my stem cell retrival. And we walk through my chemo and first few days post transplant. Fast-forward to today...and my first post-covid bit of travel.

Two years ago today, 7 million stem cell were transplanted into my body. A medical procedure meant to save my life. At this point, I believe we can safely say that it did. I expected to want to celebrate this day, but instead was quite introspective. I thought a lot about what I want to do with "new life", about how I want to carry on from here.

I flew home from Sydney on March 22, 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic. This day will go in my record books as the longest day of my life. That record was previously held by September 11, 2016 - the day I left Hong Kong to return to New York, which was the last leg of my epic 45th birthday trip around the world. This is the story of my homecoming, and the start of what happens next.

I flew to Sydney on March 11, 2020 for a visit with Sarah (whom I met in Cambodia.) My memories are murky with a Covid haze......

I am not sure where my obsession with Koalas came from. But when I went to Australia in the summer of 2019 - I had to hold a Koala. We visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I did the whole Koala experience. 🐨

When I was unexpectedly back in Brisbane in 2020, my goal was to see one in the wild.

March 1, 2020 - I was in Legian, Bali. I started writing the stories of how I ended up in Legian in 2018. Those stories have become chapters in the book I am writing, and episodes of this podcast. And we have come full circle.....

February 26, 2020 - Singapore. The trip was full of self-discovery, and Covid. This would be the first time Covid actually interfered with my travel plans with canceled flights to Maylasia. But keep in mind.... Covid-19 was not yet a pandemic, so Singapore was "business as usual."

A quick stop in Vientiane. I had one goal - to visit the Buddha Park. Oddly....I have two goals, just from this recording alone, for my next visit. Covid is moving quickly now, and the story will continue to pick up steam over the next four or five episodes. One piece of self discovery - five and a half weeks into my journey, the time I spent traveling with others was standing out more than my independent travel. We may need to revisit that as (hopefully) travel plans start to take shape for 2021.