Ali’s [Current] Life

With just over 20 days until taking off, I’m cramming in a lot of last minute preparations as well as reflecting on this past summer. It’s been a transition period of personal reflection and preparation, but I’ll try to make it interesting for you all.

Spoiler: it includes a lot of coffee.

Where it all began…

My coffee addiction goes back to my 6-8:30am shifts as a janitor freshman year of college. The 5:20 alarm was consistent but bedtime fluctuated which meant many nights of little sleep were followed with long days. I relied on my new best friend, caffeine, and quickly found the benefits of this. I got great work done in cafe environments. Journaling, studying, and group projects were always met with higher amounts of productivity. Plus, the accountability of other people combined with the perfect amount of background noise found in coffee shops was a nice break from hiding in my apartment.

IJM was very upfront about the toll the work can take on staff and suggested that we all try and work proactively to learn about ourselves, our processing, and events in our past that might impact how we approach the work in the future. I found different books, Bible-studies, support groups, and mentors that met intermittently and have offered guidance in my journey of self love and acceptance. That meant that while I didn’t have much structure to my summer, any given week could have 1-4 different “self-care” meetings/appointments in between my fundraising appointments and time set aside for logistical planning.

The combination of fundraising and self-growth as my “summer plan” was not appealing to me. I’ve never poured into relationships as intentionally before, especially not my relationship with myself, and the thought of asking people for money made my stomach turn. However, I quickly learned to reframe it as opportunities to talk about human trafficking. I quickly fell in love with the one on ones and small group discussions because I was able to answer questions and talk through the work of IJM and other anti-human trafficking efforts. It was through these meetings that I found Farside Coffee.

Farside

“The goal of this project is to try to resurrect conversation, art, and other humanities lost with the decline in delayed gratification. Half of the cafe is home to a large faraday cage, a cage that blocks electromagnetic signals such as cell phone, wifi, and radio signals… we encourage talking to a fellow person, reading a book, or simply enjoying the space for a while.”
Farsidecoffeemn.com

Farside became my new “spot.” I fell in love with the lack of wifi, the lack of single-use products, and the invitation to slow down and be present. I would show up for a meeting and stay for hours journaling, reading, working on thank yous for fundraising (THEY ARE COMING I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY), and chatting with the baristas. Those of you who know me more personally are aware of my tendency to rush from one thing to the next, always over committing myself, and this has been an admittedly difficult lifestyle to combat. I tried by underloading credits in my last semester, but even then I poured into other projects and wasn’t good about letting myself rest. Now, I’m learning to enjoy not having a plan, and truly being still (that was my first tattoo after all 😉 ).

Being present means space for latte art 🙂
The faraday cage

I’ve spent hours there practicing slowing down, being flexible, and recognizing my own weaknesses. I’m excited about all that I am learning through these exercises and thankful for the new relationships I am building because they will help me when I’m thrown into a new lifestyle yet again (and this time at a more extreme level).

Updates!

I’m so excited to say there are GREAT THINGS HAPPENING!

Support updates page is now live! Check here for where we are at financially, relationally, and spiritually!
$12,000 in the bank! Thank you all so much for your financial support thus far, unfortunately there is still a long ways to go. Please consider donating below.
First visa has been acquired! This is a two-step process, but the next step will take place once I am in Bolivia. For now, the 30 day one is in my hands!
Flights have been purchased! At the end of August I will set out on a multi-flight journey through the southern US, central America and then the Southern Cone!
Farside hired me! Since they are a pop-up for the summer, they were happy to work with my short-term schedule. For those of you in Minneapolis, don’t worry, they are looking into a more permanent location in Northeast! Follow them on Instagram for their updates: @farsidecoffeemn