What I Learned Milking a Cow: Costa Rica
What I Learned Milking a Cow
ADVENTURE: Any experience in life that allows you to learn and grow.
Anytime I’m traveling and I have the opportunity to explore or try something new, I’m like ‘bring it on!’ My goal is to experience as much as I can in this lifetime. Even if it’s something as basic as milking a cow.
While I was in Costa Rica I stayed with my Soul Adventure Retreat co-host, Sarah, on her farm. I told her I wanted to experience doing the morning chores. I knew this was an opportunity I would never have back home in the city – and it made me excited!
It’s funny how something that seemed exciting to me is a hum-drum every day routine for someone else – and one I’m sure they would love to skip now and then. Mind you – I’m sure if I had to get up early everyday and do farm chores, the novelty would quickly wear off.
It was amazing to witness a completely different life than what I’m used to. I kept asking myself if I could live this full-time Costa Rica farm life. I know I would miss my North American conveniences but would I eventually get used to a brand new life somewhere else?
Whether or not I would love it is yet to be determined – but what it made me realize is that we so often fantasize about living a certain life, or reaching a specific goal because we have this idea of what exactly it will feel like when we achieve it. However – most of the time we rarely feel how we expected to in the end. Expectations get in the way, along with not realizing reality always feels different than a fantasy. Fantasies don’t take into account the fears that pop up along the way. They also don”t give you a full 360 degree view of what the experience will entail.
The biggest lesson I learned (and I’m still learning) is to truly understand my intention in the choices I make. To get honest with myself about what I want and why I want it. When you can remind yourself of that and keep asking yourself if every action you take is serving your intention – you have the ability to feel more grounded, happy and fulfilled.
My intention in milking a cow was simply to experience it. I didn’t have any expectations when it came to how much milk we were going to get, or if I was going to become a pro milker.
How would life feel different for you if your intention was to just fully experience every situation that came your way?