Of course, travelling as a lifestyle and house-sitting is not a bed of roses all of the time. Anything can happen so its good to be adaptable.
You have no guarantee of where you’ll be living from one month to the next and you don’t know how good it will be at the next place. Not so easy if you’re someone who likes to know where you’re at.
I used to worry about getting lost and of course I have got lost, many times … often in the most delightful places.
You never know what will happen.
When you house-sit, you do have a responsibility to take care of the owner’s home and much-loved pets. Dealing with a grease-trap that got backed up; a Category 4 Cyclone the day before workmen were due to repair the cyclone shutters; torrential rain, power cut off and a conservatory flooded; a fire alarm going off in the middle of the night in a treehouse; a washing machine leaking…
Not at all fun at the time, yet through times like these you somehow learn to resolve problems. And, often you can laugh about it afterwards and see that, if it hadn’t been for that seeming ‘disaster’, you wouldn’t be where you are now.
What to do when things go wrong?
- when you feel a sense of panic, feel it, but don’t get stuck in it. Stop and breathe, slowly, deliberately, then consciously plant your feet firmly on the ground, and feel your heart gradually stop racing.
- Then take the focus to your mind and ask yourself ‘ok, what’s one practical thing I can do, what’s the first thing to do here?’ That will bring back a sense of control.
- Ask for help so you can be strong… from your intuition, neighbours, friends, whoever. It’s not weak to ask for help, you don’t need to handle things alone.
When things don’t go as planned, look to do what you can, how to deal with it as best as you can and you’ll get through it. Life is full of surprises; sometimes you’ll surprise yourself.