Make it count…
By the time you read this column, it will almost be New Year. Another year has come and gone. And it strikes me that they seem to pass faster all the time. Many of you will be on holiday, some may already be on their way home. There is a culture, especially in our country, of working hard all year round to be able to enjoy our annual holiday. Whilst I am not suggesting there is anything wrong with a lovely, long December holiday, I am suggesting that we should enjoy the entire year.
Many of our clients are seasoned travellers, who understand that it is a wonderful way to make friends and gain a new outlook. You test the boundaries of your comfort zone and try new things. Some journeys are transformative journeys, others simply give you the time to breathe.
Not all travel is about legendary adventures (although it’s my advice to you to indulge in these kind of trips as often as possible). Sometimes it’s simply about removing yourself from your day-to-day circumstances to get a new point of view on yourself and your life. Taking routine to its logical extreme, you become an automaton of sorts – you’re just going through the motions.
“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.” Paulo Coelho.
Travel allows for introspection. In our busy lives, we seldom get a moment to consider our existence. We are so deeply entrenched in our daily routines, that life passes us by without us realising. We need to make time to dream, to change our frame of reference, and to make time for those who are truly important. Travel is particularly suited to this.
The open road is like a meditation – a rare opportunity to mull over your life and to gain perspective. To explore your hopes and wishes and reconnect with that which is in your heart. Time to listen to your inner voice – or simply listen to that music that you used to enjoy so long ago. Socrates, the father of ancient philosophy, stated that “the unexamined life is not worth living”. To find purpose and value in life, one needs to occasionally get off the hamster wheel and contemplate. Journeys are perfect for this…
After travel, you no longer take your surroundings for granted. On your return, you are more alive, more in the moment. And this is not a state of mind you should only experience once a year. I believe it is possible, and desirable, to fill your life with many experiences that shake you free of the daily routine – that make life interesting and give you something to talk about other than work and politics.
I have never been disappointed with a trip. Don’t get me wrong – things don’t always go according to plan. Challenges happen. Not all venues end up being what was depicted in the brochure. But in the end, the change of environment and the pure joy of the open road are always worth it. Oftentimes it is the trips where things “go wrong” that lodge in our minds, that we talk about for years to come.
Travel is also a humbling experience. Your outlook is broadened, and you understand that your existence, and the way you conduct your life, is simply one of many options. In this way, travel gives you choices by opening your mind to the many possibilities in life. There are as many ways to exist in this world as there are people. The more you are exposed to, the more choices you are made aware of.
“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” Anais Nin
There is extraordinary in the ordinary if we but pause to take it in. We so often walk through this great big, wonderful world that we live in with blinkers on. I’ve never understood the concept of boredom – if one pauses to look around, even for the briefest period, there is enough interesting stuff to keep us busy until the day we die.
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” ― Anais Nin
Design your life, creatively and with intent. I do not believe for a moment that we are here simply to work, accumulate stuff and then die. We were not given life on this beautiful planet to simply ignore it, hunched over a computer with a cell phone glued to our ears.
Whilst I accept that there are limitations, both financial and time, there are always ways of finding something to do to break the routine. Mini road-trips. Being a tourist in your own town. Exploring a nearby park. Or crossing the Namib desert. They all count. They all contribute to a more considered existence.
Travel enriches your mind and educates you beyond any textbook or the internet. Travel allows you to escape from reality for a while, to relax and just breathe. To recharge your batteries and disconnect from the chaos of your everyday. Travel teaches tolerance and the ability to be open-minded. So, make that bucket list, include both near and far, and go make it happen! Sometimes you need to lose yourself, to find yourself…
May 2024 be your best year yet!!
Jacqui Ikin & The Cross Country Team