From Dartmoor to Napa : A Story of Connection
Sometimes, the people who change your perspective arrive quietly.
In the coffee queue. On unfamiliar soil. At the exact right moment.
That’s how I met Tobin.
He was in the UK last year, travelling with his wife to visit the Cornish lands of his great-grandfather, unknowingly stepping into a place just 7 miles from where I grew up.
We met, by chance, in the coffee line at The Do Lectures. A Californian in West Wales bumping into a West Cornwall native.
A shared love of storytelling, creativity, and that quiet inner knowing. We hit it off instantly. He’s since become my friend, a guest on my podcast Pivots and Plot Twists, and the kind of kindred spirit I’d call my Cornish Brother from another.
Today we had a call. But not your typical Zoom square.
It was a walk-and-talk. Part of Tobin’s brilliant work as a narratologist, helping others see their true worth through the power of their own narrative.
Tobin wandered through the vineyards of Napa. I strolled across the wilds of Dartmoor. Two people, two landscapes, one thread of conversation weaving through place and time.
And what emerged was this:
A remembering.
A reclaiming.
A shift.
We talked about how easy it is to get caught in the noise.
To default to what’s probable instead of imagining what’s possible.
To forget our wildness. Our creativity. Our innate sense of direction.
But when we move, when we walk, breathe, notice, we reconnect.
The land speaks. The wind nudges. And what’s true begins to rise.
Tobin reminded me that we are all mosaics, collections of moments and stories and seasons.
No two ever the same.
And that wholeness doesn’t come from perfection, it comes from letting each piece belong.
So, here’s what I’m left with:
Don’t underestimate the magic of unexpected meetings.
Or the clarity that comes when you walk and talk with someone who can help you see yourself in a different light.
If you’re feeling stuck, stale, or a little too stretched, step outside.
Let your feet move. Let your mind wander. Let the wild within you stir.
And see what gold nugget might just emerge
With love,
Tamsyn x