Episode #193 - Elephants

Welcome to the Mastering Midlife Podcast, where we talk about all the crazy fun things that happen when you are a midlife mama. I'm your host, Heather London. Let's dig in.

Hola guapas. I just came back from the most amazing adventure and I had to share it with you stat because it's just so fresh and I just wanted to... share before I forget everything but first of all I gotta say like I don't know what's going on I think because of my experience that I had today but I have the perfect beach hair now I never have like

good hair especially if i don't do anything to it but i think today was like just the perfect day that created this hair you know when you go to your hairdresser and they do it perfect for you and And you're like, I could never recreate that. That's what my hair looks like today without doing anything to it and actually going on an adventure. I think that's what caused this hair. Anyway, that's a sidetrack. I shouldn't say that because you can't even.

see what my hair looks like unless you're watching this on youtube but girls you know girls and hair like you know if you know what i'm saying you know okay

Now, today I went on the adventure of a lifetime. I've been so looking forward to this. I have planned a lot of things to do on my journey and I'm excited about all of them, but this one was numero uno. This one... It was like, I can't wait for this day. And it was finally here. I got up bright and early and set out on this adventure. Now, I don't know about you, but I am obsessed with...

Elephants. I love elephants. I find them so fascinating. They're just like prehistoric creatures, but they're like... heard you know family oriented they're super smart they live forever they take care of their little babies and ah they're just so i don't even know what to say but

picture like one of your favorite things in the world and then all of a sudden you get to do it that was me today i was like i get to see the elephants today it's funny because uh when i was traveling to West Africa. I was, this was in my twenties. Um, I was just like, I was on an exchange where I was volunteering and a couple

have the volunteers at the end of our rounds were like, let's go travel through, we're in Ghana, let's go travel through Ghana and see what's what. And we decided like one of the stops would be a safari. We just spent the night there. We didn't go on a track or anything. And so where your little house is, there are some chairs and it overlooks the watering hole because everybody goes to the watering hole. So what better way to see animals than to let them come to you?

So me and my friends were looking at the animals, waiting for the animals. You know, you got the wild boars and your regulars. But all I wanted to do was see elephants and that was it.

And no elephants came. It was really funny, actually, because we were sitting on a step and the two guys I was with were sitting behind me and they were looking through my hair, combing through my hair and picking out lice because we were sleeping in like... really disgusting crazy places and the night before I had I guess or one of the other nights I got lice and so the funny thing was they were picking out lice and when we looked behind us it was like

The monkeys were watching us do this as the boys like tried to pick the lice eggs out of my hair because that's what they do, but they eat it. They pick it out of their own fur and then they eat it. So it was hilarious.

to turn around and see the monkeys watching us do what the monkeys normally do. So anyway, don't get me distracted. I was... on the safari and we didn't see any elephants and as we were leaving all people could talk about is how many elephants they saw there were elephants here and elephants there and i was so sad that i didn't get to see any so but today was my day so um

right now i'm in cambodia and they have this sanctuary so for me you know i've always wanted to swim with dolphins but i can't it has to be ethical for me so this is a sanctuary where they take elephants who Because here in Cambodia, elephants work. And they take the elephants that can't work anymore. Owners can't take care of them for whatever reason. And they have three elephants right now. And they are...

They're old elephants. Like, one is a teenager at, like, 20-something, and one that causes all the trouble. You could see it in the personality, too. And then they're all females, and then there was, like, one who was 47 and one who was, like, 67. And the three females just have their own unique personality. And they'll just live out the rest of their days in this sanctuary.

And what we got to do wasn't like just go and look at the elephants because that would be amazing. But what we got to do was actually make some snacks for the elephants and we got to feed the elephants.

and i was just so excited i got um one of the people that was on the tour just to record and you could see when i'm doing it and i walked back to the camera i just have the biggest smile on my face it was like the best experience ever just to be around these gentle giants like man they are just mythical creatures and just so powerful and strong but yeah like gentle and and

calm and oh my gosh it was i can't even you could tell because there are no words like how excited i was and still am so what we did was um like it's a really cool experience because they have everything set up around food so they get the elephants to kind of go on a little daily routine and it's all based on food and then we go with the elephants and we get to like interact with the elephants

And the first one was making a snack. So we make rice and then husk, like corn husk ground up really, really fine and bananas. And we mush it all together and made it into like big, big. elephant-sized meatballs like huge you know like almost like bigger than a softball kind of thing and you squish it so it gets all sticky and then what you get to do like there's just a little there's just like a little railing

And just because otherwise the elephants would just come and eat everything. And so you get to go and step up and you offer up this sushi roll snack.

to the elephant and what the elephant does is opens her mouth really wide and then she sticks her tongue out and then you just put it on her tongue and then she takes it and chews it but her tongue is like their tongues are just like super fat like they're not long they're not licking anything they're just kind of like fat slugs it was so cool because i'd never seen an elephant up that close and then as you feed the elephant you can just

pet its trunk and it was like so crazy because their skin is all wrinkly and it's it is hard and leather and have little little hairs on it and oh my gosh i've never i never even imagine what an elephant would actually feel like so it was so cool to feel the skin of the elephant like and you could tell it the older elephants because like they all had their own characteristics but the more wrinkles you have the older you are in elephant world and

So there was one who was called Boom Boom, and that was the younger one. And Boom Boom likes to kind of try to steal the food from the other elephants. And the old elephant, no problem. They hang out together and she can tolerate boom, boom. But the other one is like, I don't think so. So they don't get along. So they stay away from each other. It's so funny. And so we've got to feed all of our like.

big rice balls to the elephant you put it in its mouth and then the lady who was so lovely she'd say like you know he's ready for more she's ready for more when they stick their tongue out it's like here just put it on my tongue and so you do that and then once they've eaten all the rice the sushi balls then you can feed them bananas and cucumbers and you don't peel the banana you just now this one you don't put in their mouth what you do is you just offer it up and they take it with their trunk

their little trunk, they grab it with their trunk and then shove it in their mouth. It was so cool just to see and then if they are mad or if, you know. not feeding them fast enough they'll just like blow dirt and snot on you it's so funny it is so funny they're just so full of personality and then they we we stay until they've eaten all of that And then what they do after that is they go over to like a place where they've got banana leaves.

put out and so then the elephants will feed themselves and we can as they're feeding themselves we can just walk up next to them and we can pet them and touch them and take pictures with them and just like be around them oh

So amazing. And then when they're done that, the elephants go to the mud pit. you are also invited to go into the mud pit and give the elephant a mud bath. Now, I did not do that because I could just see me falling in the mud and being stuck. But...

you could, like the elephants do it to cool down. So they put mud on themselves and they get all dirty. And this time only one elephant did it. So the way they have this set up is that we follow the elephants like these are things are set up for the elephants and they do it every day so it's a routine but if the elephant doesn't want to

go in the mud bath the elephant won't go in the mud bath and then after that after hanging out there taking more pictures just like you just like are trying to hug this elephant and it's oh so amazing Then the elephants decide if they want to go in the river or not for a bath. And guess what? You get to go in the river too and give the elephants a bath. It was like what? How is this even happening right now?

how is this even my life it was so amazing and i couldn't stop getting in the river and giving these elephants about like i there was a big group and so would take my turn and then nobody else wanted to go so I would go in again and give it another elephant a bath and I'm like okay nobody else okay one more time go in and just like and you just

take this uh the big bowl and you spray throw water on the elephant and you have a scrub brush and you just brush the elephant and i'm like i don't even think the elephant can feel this it's funny because they have bad eyesight but they have a really good smell and hearing and i am telling you i could have done that all day it was the most amazing experience ever to give an elephant a bath and my heart was so full like

what are the things in your life that you've just always wanted to do and then how would that feel to actually get to do them and this delivered like even more than i thought possible the feeling the experience it was just Next level stuff. Oh my gosh, I was in heaven. I just, I wanted it to last forever. I would have stayed there all day if they would have let me. And then...

once um once you're done giving the elephants a bath you get to go and shower and change like to have these facilities for you and then you go back to the main starting point and then they feed you some fresh watermelon and some pineapple which is amazing and they give you water

And then guess who shows up for this? The elephants. They come over and now they're sticking their trunks in where we are going like, hey, give me some more food. I see you hogging that food. Give me some more. Give me some more. And so you can feed them the pineapple or the pineapple.

skin or the more bananas or they eat everything and you just put it in their little trunk and then they just chew it on up but when they were eating like the leaves the banana leaves it was like huge stalks really thick stalks i'm not sure what the the plant was but they would just

peel it a little bit and then step on a little bit and peel it and then they would throw it in their mouth and the crunching was just like their jaw is so powerful and it was an amazing sound and then one of the elephants didn't want to go into the river. And it was just pulling bamboo, like just, it would grab a thing of bamboo and just start pulling it because it wanted to eat it. And it's just like slow and mighty. It was so, oh my gosh, so amazing to watch.

And the beautiful thing about this is our guide, Anna, was just so kind and sweet and patient and gentle and just like the loveliest human being. and telling us about their personalities. And you could totally see their personalities as they went. And basically, she's like, don't run around them because...

If they can't see you, they get scared. That's why they're scared of mice, because they can't see them, but they can sense something there. So they always want to be able to see you. And if they see you, they're okay. And if you don't run, you're okay.

if you don't tease them with the food then you're okay but if you piss them off and these are gentle you know gentle retired elephants but you have to be careful and you gotta make sure that they're that they're happy but these elephants were so so happy but the cool thing was anna's like you know what they don't really care about you they really don't all they want is more food they eat all day they only sleep

for a couple hours a day, like three to four, she said. And they're kind of like horses because they're all muscle and they need energy and they're just eating plants. They need to eat and eat. That was like me when I was plant-based, just eat and eat and eat. And these elephants, I can't remember how many pounds, thousands of pounds of food that they eat. It's just insane how much food they eat every single day. And that's all they do is they eat.

when they go from one stop to the next, they just put food there. And then the elephant's like, yeah, I'll go there and eat that food. Because when it went down to the river, there was like a nice sweet snack of sugar cane.

and so if the elephant wanted sugar cane it would go in the river and have a nice little bath clean it off cool it down a bit and it would just sit there and eat the sugar cane and then of course when we were having our snack the elephant's like hey i want in on that too like don't forget about me and They're so darn cute. Their little trunks are reaching in to try to steal our food. And so, of course, we give them most of our food, too, because they are just...

Precious. So precious. Anyway, I wanted to share this with you while it was still fresh in my mind because it's always been a lifelong dream of mine to literally hang out with an elephant and touch it and get to know it, see what it... What is life like for an elephant? What is an elephant thinking? What's it doing? It's not thinking anything. It's just food. How much more food can I stuff in my face?

The whole purpose of the elephant is just to keep feeding itself so it can live another day because They are mighty but that mighty requires so much fuel And I'm like, oh, I could relate. When I was like plant-based, I was like that too. I was just like eating all the time, hungry all the time. It's funny because when I was at the pig cafe, the little piggies were like chewing all the time. Like, what are they doing? They're chewing on their cud.

because they're always like hungry, the guy said. They're just hungry, hungry, hungry all the time. And that's all these elephants were doing, was eating, eating, eating. But they were so... kind to let us hang out with them today and it was the absolute best experience and it just I don't know inspires me to keep doing not doing it inspires me to keep

and striving for doing all the things that I want to do in life. You know, when you're like, ah, I could do this, but it's too hard. Or how am I going to do this? Or that's not even possible. I feel like when things like this i create things like this for myself then it inspires me to do more like this because life is so short it's so short and at the end of the day you're never gonna say things like oh i'm glad i didn't go to this place or you know

on your deathbed you always have regrets regrets of things you didn't do not things that you did do and so i the only reason i'm sharing this because this was like one of my It was really personal to me because when I first showed up, I was like tears running down my face. I'm like, oh my God, I'm in the presence of these elephants that are so majestic and so wise and kind.

gentle but just so powerful all at the same time like this elephant could break you in half if it wanted to but all it is is just existing to eat more food and do its thing but my heart was so full that that tears were streaming down my face because it was such an amazing moment for me. And I really want to encourage any of you that have bucket list stuff or things that you've always wanted to do, don't wait.

There is no tomorrow. Just do it today. Today is the day for all of this because you never know. You really never know. And that's what life is really all about is being in these moments. I just could go off forever on.

on how we've got it all backwards, on how we think it's working and saving it. But it's not. It's about these experiences right here, right now. And the best thing that you could do is really connect with your community with your family like that's what life is all about is connection and i've said this a thousand times and i'll keep saying it that what the world needs now is more connection and community and so

if there's any way that i can create connection and community i'm all for it of course i start with my own family and then i expand out and i want to encourage you to do the same because life is short but it's these moments right here that that Life is just a whole bunch of experiences put together. That's all it is. And I want to remind you, too, that sometimes life can feel hard.

Our experience of life is just our perception of what's going on. And that's so powerful because if you are not having a good time, you can ask yourself, how am I perceiving this and how could I change my perception of it so that I can... work it in my benefit because everything is everything is neutral and it's just my perception of it that makes it good or bad and so on that note today was amazing oh that was a good elephant

Today was out of this world. I can't even. I can't even. Oh my gosh. Anyway, I hope this for you too. I wish. that you get to do these bucket list things and you get to feel the way i'm feeling right now and if If you haven't lately, then create that for yourself. That's all I'm saying. Go out there and create it for yourself. No, it's not gonna happen for you. You gotta go and make it happen because anything is possible. Oh, thank you for listening to my elephant story. Always, always, always.

Love yourself first. Go for it. Life is short. Just make everything happen. No excuses. Live large and be happy. Always, always, always love yourself first and have an amazing day.