{"id":24267,"date":"2023-11-05T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T07:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=24267"},"modified":"2023-11-06T10:47:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:47:45","slug":"a-season-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/11\/05\/a-season-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"A Season of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>By Mike Huber<\/h6>\n<p>Having recently turned 50 and even though I feel it has been a super intense and successful ride (I\u2019m still alive, so I guess that\u2019s a barometer for success), I felt myself falling into a rut. I was unfulfilled in my job and things were just\u2026blah. A close friend of mine made this analogy:\u00a0 When things tend to go flat for me I come in the room and flip the table over and the game board and pieces go flying everywhere.\u00a0 Well, it was time to flip the table again, and to do it with authority.<\/p>\n<p>My job had been a great vehicle in my life for college, certifications, and traveling the world, but it seemed to have broken down on a desolate desert road with radiator fluid spewing all over the cactus that surrounded it.\u00a0 My management and the leaders above me were spectacular, but I was stuck and having been there for 21 years, I felt it was time to move on.\u00a0 My boss, after laying others off, didn\u2019t look too well as he prepared me for the news over a video call.\u00a0 I wanted to volunteer for the layoff and simply said, \u201cSir, this will be the easiest call you have all day.\u201d\u00a0 I had a Cuban cigar and a glass of whiskey ready when I heard the numbers.\u00a0 I instantly knew I had made the right decision when I felt a massive weight lift off me.<\/p>\n<p>What to do with my life now was the next question. It didn\u2019t take me long to realize I should blast out on the bike to figure it out.\u00a0 While riding through Joshua Tree National Park I reflected on my time in Peru. I took a trip up the Amazon and at a friend\u2019s suggestion I tried this mystical hallucinogenic drink called ayahuasca under the guidance of a Peruvian shaman. It was an intense experience (to say the least) and it was a solid restart of my entire system. I felt as though it was time for this sacred drink again.<\/p>\n<p>After a 3-month ride to British Columbia (nothing is ever a direct route for me) and experiencing some failures with the motorcycle, I arrived at my friend\u2019s retreat.\u00a0 Ayahuasca isn\u2019t a pleasant experience for me.\u00a0 It is a lot of work.\u00a0 You face your true inner self, even if you don\u2019t want to.\u00a0 This can be painful and ugly. It is intense.\u00a0 In my life, there are two things that scared me:\u00a0 Exiting an aircraft in flight and drinking ayahuasca.\u00a0 Everything else is manageable.<\/p>\n<p>I was beyond nervous so I thought prior to arriving I would throw a few casts out to kill an hour or two. My first cast I caught a beautiful bass.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24270\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230818_132049-400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230818_132049-400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230818_132049-400-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24272\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230820_130521-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230820_130521-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230820_130521-600-231x300.jpg 231w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The preparation for these ceremonies was not something to be taken lightly.\u00a0 This includes a very strict diet of no processed food or alcohol, and meats limited to chicken, turkey, or fish.\u00a0 The bass was a perfect meal to share with my new friends.<\/p>\n<p>I arrived on my semi-trusty BMW GS1200 (the semi part is an0ther story) and pitched my tent where I would sleep after the ceremonies.\u00a0 There were 11 others that would be drinking along with 2 practitioners overseeing the ceremony.\u00a0 It would take place at 20:00 (that&#8217;s 8:00 p.m.) in a yurt on a beautiful piece of land next to a large river. It was the perfect setting and time for me to be in this place.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-24271\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230819_110428-600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230819_110428-600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230819_110428-600-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I was beyond scared to drink this medicine again, but I knew it would provide the life guidance I wanted. Having taken ayahuasca in Peru, I felt confident and familiar with the effects; however, I didn\u2019t expect the impact it would have on me this time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Never miss an ExNotes blog:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Please click on the popup ads and visit the folks who advertise with us.<\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<style>\r\n        .wpedon-container .wpedon-select,\r\n        .wpedon-container .wpedon-input {\r\n            width: 171px;\r\n            min-width: 171px;\r\n            max-width: 171px;\r\n        }\r\n    <\/style><div class='wpedon-container wpedon-align-center'><form target='_blank' action='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/cgi-bin\/webscr' method='post' class='wpedon-form'><input type='hidden' name='cmd' value='_donations' \/><input type='hidden' name='business' value='ExNotes@ExhaustNotes.us' \/><input type='hidden' name='currency_code' value='USD' \/><input type='hidden' name='notify_url' value='https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-admin\/admin-post.php?action=add_wpedon_button_ipn'><input type='hidden' name='lc' value='en_US'><input type='hidden' name='bn' value='WPPlugin_SP'><input type='hidden' name='return' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='cancel_return' value='' \/><input class='wpedon_paypalbuttonimage' type='image' src='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/en_US\/i\/btn\/btn_donateCC_LG.gif' border='0' name='submit' alt='Make your payments with PayPal. It is free, secure, effective.' style='border: none;'><img alt='' border='0' style='border:none;display:none;' src='https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/en_US\/i\/scr\/pixel.gif' width='1' height='1'><input type='hidden' name='amount' id='amount_daae488bdd52662501419594b8ef5713' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='price' id='price_daae488bdd52662501419594b8ef5713' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='item_number' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='item_name' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='name' value='' \/><input type='hidden' name='custom' value='23447'><input type='hidden' name='no_shipping' value='1'><input type='hidden' name='no_note' value='0'><input type='hidden' name='currency_code' value='USD'><\/form><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britishmotorcyclegear.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-23940 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400.jpg 400w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/BritishMotorcycleGear400-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/bajabound.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23943\" src=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0-20191017_4474BajaBound.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0-20191017_4474BajaBound.jpg 400w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0-20191017_4474BajaBound-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0-20191017_4474BajaBound-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 85vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mike Huber Having recently turned 50 and even though I feel it has been a super intense and successful ride (I\u2019m still alive, so I guess that\u2019s a barometer for success), I felt myself falling into a rut. I was unfulfilled in my job and things were just\u2026blah. A close friend of mine made &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2023\/11\/05\/a-season-of-change\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Season of Change&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[352,89],"tags":[3843],"class_list":["post-24267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bmw","category-motorcycle-adventure-ride","tag-ayahuasca"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20230818_161052-900.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24267"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24331,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24267\/revisions\/24331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}