Let’s Go on A Trip (the good kind)!

So half way through this year I will be travelling to Spain to partake in the pilgrimage that is the El Camino De Santiago. This trip will officially be my first trip away from my home country. It shall be my first time off this hot little (it’s not really that little, that’s what she said) Australian rock and into the world unknown. A chance to experience new things, meet new people, and acquire a new set of eyes that will change the way I see myself and the world. Shakespeare would have trouble describing my excitement.

“Doth ones excitement appear to be inspiring the ascension of the front of thou’s trouserpants?”

I didn’t really make a resolution this year as I do not strongly believe in them, but I do believe in changes of attitude. This year’s attitude will be characterised by adventuring into unknown and being open to new experiences. This is a complete contrast to my regular attitude of being content where I am and being content on what I know. Adventuring into the unknown is more than just physically taking myself to places I never been. For me it is about leaving my mental and emotional comfort zone. What lies beyond my comfort zone is unknown and I believe that it is that unknown territory to be where real life and adventure lies. I won’t experience what life has to offer sitting in a four walled room, staring at a screen all day, and neither will you. Life and experience is out there and I’m missing out on it, but not tomorrow!

Here is a highly structured and accurate manuscript of the in depth back and forth debate my friend and myself had two days ago:

“Let’s go on a trip!”

“Ok!”

Sometimes it can be as easy as that. Tomorrow I’m doing just that. A whole days worth of driving for two days in a foreign city. Who knows what kind of mischief, trouble and adventure I will get into? Who knows the kinds of people I will meet, or the experiences that I will experience? Who knows what kind of attitude or ideas I’ll leave the city with? Who knows the great or terrible stories I will have to tell at the dinner table? Definitely not me, and I’m excited about that.

“And then I rode a dragon to the moon, and because my dragon was hungry for some cheese it took a bite out of the moon. True story!”

I can visualise people saying they just don’t have the time, and this could very well be true if you are thinking of a big trip that you are unable to commit to right now. But a trip doesn’t have to be this big, long, glamorous journey that can only be experienced by first hopping into the stomach walls of an iron bird. It can be a half a day drive somewhere you haven’t been. It can be a couple hours. It can be couple minutes. There is no set time, nor is the length of time that important. What is more important is the action of getting out of the house, having a big, medium or small break and just going somewhere else. Physically taking your body out of a place of routine and familiarity, and putting it somewhere else for a little while. Exposing it to the elements for that brief moment. If there is someone who you would like to roll in the experience with, grab them. And even if there is no one to hit it up with you, talk to yourself out loud and repeat the following or something similar:

“Let’s go on a trip, to our back yard.”

“Let’s go on a trip, to that park down the road that we have never been to.”

“Let’s go on a trip, via shanks’ pony (Scottish colloquial meaning transport via ones legs/feet) around ye olde block or yonder.”

“That’s the shanks’ pony spirit guys!”

Any of those three trips would suffice. Just getting out and going somewhere you haven’t been, or haven’t been to in a while. Great old memories might resurface and new ones may be born. You may see something you had not seen before. You may think of things you have never thought before. The world might provide you with an idea, or inspiration that you have never had before. Look out your window, and go there. Walk to the park. Walk in the street. Walk in your backyard. Look around at the world around you. Notice things. Close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. Smell the fragrances and odours around you. Touch things. Take pictures of things. Record things, ideas, thoughts, observations. If you’re at work, at a desk right now (firstly, I am honoured that are choosing to read this during work hours) perhaps stand up and walk up and down the case of stairs once. Maybe ride the elevator to the top level, and down to the bottom level. Have that little trip. Who knows what happens?

Remember, a trip can be anywhere, even as far a distance as your backyard or veranda. Treat your trip as a holiday and do what most do on their holidays; absolutely nothing. People often take trips to get away from the normal responsibilities they have in life, if even for that brief moment. They take trips to relax. Treat your small trips the same way, and do nothing for a little while. Take the time to breathe, and slow down and see a new world through new eyes.

Catch you all later with my new eyes.

Now go treat yourself to a trip.

– Sash

But I had much to do. SO MUCH!

Ever get the feeling there is not enough hours in the day? You go to bed, and you cannot sleep because you are anxious about all the things that you didn’t get done even though you were on full throttle? Seeing those disgusting unticked boxes on your list that’s mocking you on your bedside table. Feeling like you have been defeated by your own expectations of yourself. It’s like at the end of the day and some random dude floats into your room the second you are about to fall asleep, and slaps you in the face with a certificate. A certificate of “participation”. Remember those back in the day? How degrading was that? I remember looking to the kid beside me in primary school. Big cheesey grin on their face as they brandish their “credit” around.  Only to be out done by that smug kid who keeps asking whether his “distinction” is any good. Little punk. Stupid random floating “participation” certificate distributor man.

“We don’t have the testicular fortitude to tell you that you failed, so have this instead!”

But seriously, do you ever wonder whether you will get it all done? All the work you have for the day, or the week, or the year? What about all the things you want to accomplish in five years? How about ten? How about by the end of your life whenever that may be? I know worrying too far into the future takes away from the present, which is the most important part, but that is still no reason not to have some sort of life structure. Some sort of life plan. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail……or plan to get a “participation” certificate.

It all started with a bucket list challenge. Write down fifty things that you want to accomplish before you go to that big gym in the sky. I could only conjure up twenty four things. But even looking at those twenty four things, I started to question whether or not I would even be able to accomplish all things? I want to be this, and that, and this, and that, and do this and that. All these things, plans, ideas. I want to accomplish these things. I want to experience all these things, and there are so many things. Where do I even start? How do I even start? Is it too late to do some of these things? This is probably a great spot for me to stop typing and refer back to my over-thinking “Paralysis by Analysis” post, but I’m going to keep going and hopefully an idea formulates.

I suppose I would start by looking at the list and ordering them in terms of importance to me. Those are the ones that I will target first. I guess next I’d give myself goals. As much as I hate the “g” word (just from saying way too much, the word doesn’t even look right to me anymore) I know that is what I have to set. If you don’t have direction, if you don’t have a target to funnel your energy then it will go nowhere. An idea without vision is just a dream. Let’s use the ever popular example of buying a house, or an apartment. The way you would approach it is to see how much it costs. See how much a deposit is, and calculate how much money you need. Then look at what you earn, and see how long you estimate it would take to save that money if you put some away each week. Now you have an idea and a direction and a time frame.

Another way to look at it might be to work backwards. Let’s say I want to be an engineer. Ok, how do you become an engineer? Well you go an study engineering. Ok, where? At this university. Ok, how do you get into that university? You do this, this and this etc. So all of a sudden you have created this visual route, or idea of how you are going to get to where you want. And then you would do this for all the things on your list. Constructing visual routes or timelines for all your life goals. You may choose to hit the little ones first and then tackle the big ones. You may find that some overlap. You may find that you accomplish one without even realising it. You may find you accomplish some faster than you anticipated.

The secret I suppose is just to get started. Get things in motion because the hardest part is to get things moving. Think about pushing a massive rock. At first that massive goal rock is not going to move. You keep pushing, keep applying pressure to it. Next thing you know you start seeing movement, it’s slow but it’s noticeable. Now it’s starting to make some considerable progress. Now it’s moving and you are hardly pushing it. Next thing you know you have lost your giant rock because it has gained so much momentum and now it has smashed some poor guys car that was one day away from being paid off.

“Pfft, I can push that. Hold my beer!”

I invite you to write a list of those things that you desire from this life, and have a think about what you have to do to achieve them. Even Don’t be scared and don’t rush it. Grab a cup a coffee, your ye olde quill and note pad and make sweet love to the page. Even do a timeline of when you expect to accomplish it. It will make it that more real and believable and that much more achievable to you. I’ve got a lot of timelines to do; twenty four to be precise and there is no way  in hell that I’m going to get a “participation” in this lifetime again.

– Sash