Thoughts #2 – Possiblity at all Costs
*Thanks to Everywhereonce.com for helping me verbalize these thoughts I’ve had for oh so long. Visit their site and see what inspires you as well.
Oh the many times I’ve heard “I can’t do that.” when it comes to traveling. What I hear is “I won’t do that.” Anyone can make the travels of their dreams a reality, myself included (though I haven’t made that jump just yet and as I’m writing this, now, I wonder a bit as to why). I don’t believe in the inability to do something that pulls the heart strong enough.
As I continue to do my preparations for the final push into a life of permanent transience, I become painfully aware that at some point, at least for my in my circumstance, there will have to be a leap into the darkness. This strikes me as what slows or halts most people from following dreams, traveling or other.
My life used to be vastly different, actually. I suppose one of the reasons that I don’t put stock into the excuse of the ‘can’t do’ attitude is because I’ve seen it fail. I’ve given up everything at the drop of a hat, crammed my life into a car, and moved to a completely different place where I had no connections.
Hence I always believe in possibility. However, I don’t believe in easy. Throwing away some of the best things of my life before that automobile move was hard and only got harder over the next few years, but I did it because my soul needed it.
People who don’t follow their dreams make excuses. That sounds much harsher than I mean it, though. Not all of these ‘excuses’ are bad things. Perhaps a person denies him or herself the traveling lifestyle they dream of because they need to be around an ailing parent that’s aging rapidly. The same could be said for a child or a pet. Or perhaps they need to settle some debt, save up some money, or finish a big purchase such as a house before they feel they can make the drastic changes. None of these are ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ but they are all examples of people allowing outside life-related factors to interfere with their personal dreams and goals.
I know it well; I’m still working a normal job and living a relatively normal life despite the fact that I’ve wanted nothing but travel since I was a little kid. The dream has progressed into a desire, to put it lightly, for a life of constant transience – what I call ‘Going Nomad’. But you’ll never hear me say “I can’t live my dreams.” because I know I can. And I will. That’s what I want to share with everyone else as well.
You can all live your dreams.
And you will, should you choose to make the choices that lead you in that direction. I can choose the $100 / month cell phone plan and the #300 phone but I’d rather have a $50 / month plan that I can leave anytime and save the extra money for readying myself for the push. It could mean that you downgrade your apartment to hasten to process. It could mean looking for work in your would-be next stop. My plans don’t involve living in a trailer personally. Rather I would like to move from city to city and experience life there – which involves working and renting – for a brief period before moving on.
So why haven’t I gone yet? Probably not for you all, but that sure is the hot question on my mind now. I guess there are things that I’ve deemed too important to back out of yet, consciously or not. It’s still, to me, a cop out though – a failing on my part. That I could be living my dreams save for my own will is not an easy fact to sleep with. But so long as I always work toward the goal and keep a belief in the ability to do whatever is necessary, I’ll be getting there in no time.
Aa
Thoughts #1 – Transitions
Transitions are a celebrated birth and a ceremony of death. There’s no escaping it; we as humans experience both feelings simultaneously like it or not and we all go through the transitions that spark them, again like it or not.
When deciding to follow the wanderlust’s call, or not to follow it, we’re going through a transition. Anyone who experiences the pull of the lust and the effects it can cause on one’s life will surely understand. We don’t usually choose when to feel the pressure to travel; it just finds us as waiting victims. And when it does, it forces us into a transition that can be as joyous as it can painful.
Each time I’ve gotten the bug to move around, my life has changed drastically. I never once chose for the changes to happen.
I’ve also made the decision to allow other forces in my life to take precedence over my travels – several times. It constantly feels like I’m ripping a piece of my body off when I do, but I believe it’s for the right at the time. But these are transitions all the same. After an experience of such emotional and spiritual disruption, one never comes out the other side unaffected. Sometimes the logistics of life remain the same, but the feelings rarely do.
When I was younger, I used to worry that I’d lost that feeling if I didn’t act on it immediately. I still feel that way but am somehow assured now, after much time and many incidents, that my wanderlust isn’t going anywhere. Phew. Still, it feels a bit like dying when I have to push it down as it flares up.
That’s why I’m working now on making the permanent and chosen transition to, as I like to call it, ‘Go Nomad’ – meaning a life of constant movement. It will be a transition like everything else; there will be facets of life that have to be mourned and creations that will be nurtured. It will be happy and sad, but it will be.
Lucky (and unlucky) for me, I also believe we as humans can have anything and everything we want. Sometimes it takes a bit of finagling but it’s always possible. Nay Sayers be damned. Bring it on, transitions.
Walking the World Over 