Why Can’t You Travel?
First let’s discuss why most people can’t. When we explore this thought there’s a wide variety of typical answers anyone could expect to hear. Most expected answer is normally about financials and don’t get me wrong that is an important thing to keep in mind. Others might be worried about their age, kids, jobs, and typical things you need to take care of as an adult. Those responsibilities is what mostly everyone worries about and unfortunately everyone can agree those are good reasons. I’m here today in your ear telling you about the other side, the “what if I did?”
Responsibilities
Now most important thing with any aspect of life is to keep up on your responsibilities. Yes we all want to live but first let’s make sure you are at least going to survive. The main concerns are a roof over your head, food on the table and a bed to sleep on. Of course other extended responsibilities like kids are taken care of and family is taken care of as well. When weighing a decision of traveling, we think of all of our responsibilities and wonder what would happen if I stopped doing these things. We then focus on to management, you have to plan and keep account of most things that you would have to take care of. Personally and fortunately, I only had to worry about school and bills. I can’t give you a perfect guide on how to manage your kids or any elderly family you take care of but I can give you general ideas you might not think about.
Question Yourself
The important thing about any of this is that you need to confront yourself and feelings. Ask yourself tough questions such as, “Am I happy? Am I okay with what I’m doing? When’s the last time I had a break?” For me, I realized I wasn’t super satisfied and needed a break from all responsibilities. I think that most people need a break, way more than I needed it. It’s not a competition between whose lives are harder but life in general is hard, and it’ll weigh you down if you don’t alleviate stress. Ask yourself where do you want to go or what do you want to see in your life. If it helps, make a bucket list for the upcoming new year and plan to complete it all before the year ends. I’m not asking for a “new year new me” trap, we are all guilty of it. But seriously, plan some times throughout the year to relieve yourself and you might see an increase of happiness.
Personal Experience
In my lifetime, I’ve never have been a huge travel person. I am a home body and love being in a comfortable space. Throughout my life I did occasional traveling which I am grateful for, but unfortunately didn’t entirely soak it all in because I didn’t understand what it could do for me. Recently, in a span of a month, I’ve been to Tennessee, Baltimore, and Cincinnati by car. One thing I realized is that once you get a taste for traveling, you just can’t stop and itch for more. The following will be my experience between planned trips and spontaneous trips.
Tennessee
Tennessee was a planned trip for months for me and my friends fall break. This trip I believe allowed me to spread my wings and allowed me to feel responsible for myself and my friends. Normally any trip I’ve done is with my parents and they take care of me and they drive so I had to worry about nothing. This trip allowed me to be more responsible and understand how fun it can be to go out and see other parts of the world. We got to explore so much, we saw mountains in Pigeon Forge, we went to downtown Gatlinburg to explore, we went zip lining and horseback riding. We of course hung out in the cabin and just had a fun time.
Baltimore
The Baltimore trip was about as spontaneous as it gets. My fiancee and I jokingly talked about seeing the Bears play in Baltimore for the weekend since we didn’t have any plans. The tickets were super cheap and we quickly made a budget to see if we could even do the trip. Somehow we figured a way with gas, food, tickets, that we could actually make it work. The game was on a Sunday and we were figuring this stuff out on Friday night. We hadn’t even considered doing this until Thursday jokingly but Friday we put some thought into making it work. We called family and asked their opinion on it and we all agreed on one thing, we should go live. Early Saturday morning around six a.m. we still didn’t know for sure if we should do it, and so we ripped off that band-aid and got on to the road. It was about a total of eighteen hours of driving there and back. We got to explore the other side of the country and share that experience together. We half considered sleeping in the car but our parents talked us out and we found a cheap AirBnB. We loved that trip and believe it sparked something in others.
Cincinnati
This trip was planned and getting the tickets was a bumpy ride but overall the trip was amazing. Got to explore the city of Cincinnati and experience what it is like for Cincinnati on NFL game days. The stadium and the atmosphere was amazing and the game itself was ecstatic. I spent this trip my guys and we had a blast. I get chills thinking about that game and even talking about it.
Go and Travel
Hopefully me sharing my experiences and thoughts have inspired you in some ways. Maybe it doesn’t have to be a ten hour trip but it can be something to get away. I want you to go live your life, in whatever inspires you or makes you want to get up in the morning. It might not be traveling but I’m confident you’ll find something. If you’re even half considering traveling I think that is your sign alone to go after it. You only live once and it could be a great opportunity for you, friends, and family.