Dear Domino Effect

A Thai massage school friend, a carpool stranger, a banned tandem bike and how one small yes became a 550 kilometer European cycling holiday

I’m back from two weeks offline.

I hear neighbors down the street shrieking at the big screen in the local watering hole about the drama of the World Cup final tournament. I feel absolutely zero fomo. This moment in time is my first time rebooting my computer in 17 days. I haven’t used my AI companion Claudia in weeks. I feel shameful that I haven’t written nearly as much as I’ve liked to. But I’ve been in a weird predicament with a full life without moments to myself to capture. And then when there is time, I don’t feel ~inspired~. I meant to write this letter earlier today, but misplaced my laptop charger. That sums up the dishevelment that is my life.

This all feels a bit overwhelming. I feel like I’m having a comedown from a holiday, like I popped a mollie or something, but in a totally different way.

It’s been troubling me to decide where to start reflecting on my holiday, so I want to start at the very beginning of this adventure.

Before buying my second-hand touring bike, and cycling roughly 550 kilometers on it. Before eating lollipops for breakfast on two night ferries. Before I bought German train tickets. Before getting sweaty in a sauna in Sweden. Before eating pierogis in Poland. Or met the other biker in the fellowship of the wheel that I had never met before.

For context, I told myself I didn’t deserve a holiday this year. Not one longer than a long weekend, at least. Last year, the projects I pursued, like volunteering to build a house in central Thailand or chicken-sitting in the Netherlands were far off from breaking even with my living costs. In the US, skipping a break could be seen as normal. I’ve certainly gone summers before without days off from work, especially during COVID, when holidays felt unjust while people were dying and the financial stress of unstable work.

But then, I realized I could ask for time off from my client, and then a coworker agreed to support me to make it happen, and for that I am still so blessed. (Reminder to people pleasers out there: there’s no harm in asking a question. That doesn’t make you presumptuous.)

So let me tell you how you happened, Domino Effect. Because I find the way you unfolded quite magical. The first of twelve dominoes was back in April 2025…

Domino #1: Leaped outside my comfort zone, enrolled as a student at a Thai massage school, and put my sweaty squid hands to work touching strangers everyday for hours for weeks
Domino #2: Sparked up a conversation with my new Dutch friend Jay on a lunch break. We later bonded more celebrating Songkran together, squirting water at people to celebrate the Thai New Year
Domino #3: Drove to southeast Netherlands in Tilburg last summer and stayed in touch with Jay for a year via WhatsApp
Domino #4: Rejected Jay’s invitation to a small co-creativity festival in the countryside of Germany because I didn’t think it was possible and my limiting mindset
Domino #5: Slept on it and found a way to accept the invitation by shifting some meetings
Domino #6: met Maud via a carpool and we hit it off sharing stories in the drive
Domino #7: me and Maud joined each others workshops at teh festival and shared dreams about cycling holidays
Domino #8: after the festival I asked about whether the idea of the cycling holiday with her friends was actually happening and whether it was open to new-joiners
Domino #9: Maud invited me and mentioned that we could cycle on her tandem bike up until the day before when I called the German train company to realize that tandem bikes are strictly prohibited
Domino #10: bought a second-hand touring bike the morning of the train
Domino #11: found a bike store within hours to tune the brakes and replace the rims with fresh rubbers
Domino #12: was off from Utrecht, Netherlands to Hamburg, Germany, in a dash

From the very get-go of the late-night call the night before leaving, the intention was to slow down. Not to rush. To co-create the plan as we went, based on how we felt, without any formal blueprint other than the departure to Hamburg and the return from Berlin.

I loved this intention. It felt like this was any holiday I’d want to be on. The night before leaving for this trip, I felt insecure that I didn’t have a bike, a tent, a sleeping bag, sleeping pad or even a cycling jersey. My periwinkle running shoes became the home for my stinky feet for the next 16 days. This trip forced me to ask for help. It forced me to focus on what the bare essentials were. Sure, I regret that I didn’t pack my film camera, and I wish that I captured more in my journal even on exhausted nights, but I did my best for where I was.

And this chain of events and all the dominoes feel divine in the way that it happened, and for that I am so freaking grateful. There’s no way I coud’ve predicted that I’d cycle through three more countries this summer. Life is so beautiful.

Even in the low times I am feeling right now, I am infinitely blessed for this life I live, this strong body I inhabit, this world I breathe in, this running water, this bed I feel sleep cozy in tonight, these friends I get to hug and cry and laugh with, and this spirit that has me notice impermanence of life.

So what can you learn from this, Domino Effect?

You never know how one obscure invitation can unlock something totally wild and different from what you ever thought you wanted or needed.

I truly believe I am one person, one invitation, or one question away from a breakthrough that can rattle the rhythm of my life in a radical way.

Soooo, how are you going to drum up the domino effect in your one wild and precious life?

With gratitude for every domino that fell in my favor,

<3 <3 <3

Jen

~~~

PS - In case you missed, on July 2nd I wrote a reflection (from my phone) on the train in Germany:

Celebrating June & Cycling Sendoff

PPS - Letters to My Life is my favorite way to share my writing with you (and it keeps your screen-time down). Grab your copy here.