Destination: unknown
- Adam
- Oct 29, 2017
- 3 min read
Photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
We're packing a suitcase for a place none of us has ever been, a place that has to be believed to be seen.
"Walk On", U2
Neither of one of us are big U2 fans (Jade came across this line in a book), yet this quote defines our trip perfectly. It was literally our "aha" moment. Before that moment, we didn't have much clarity about our trip. We had booked the bare minimum, a few flights at the start of our trip and that was it. The majority of our fourteen-month trip was unplanned and disconnected, just a collection of ideas without much rhyme or reason.
The idea to go travelling in 2018 had existed long before we were even married, from early on in our relationship. Back then we had a creative inquisitiveness to see the world and to know each other more. Yet, as time went on and we drew closer and closer to the time we would have to plan and book things, that energy petered out. Our trip became burdensome to even think about. The lead-up was so long that we had run out of steam.
See, we've had a pretty crazy year. Besides being busy with work, a lot of random things happened in our life that has really weighed on us. I think we both got into a mindset of, "what's next, what's next, what's next?", as if on top of our already busy schedules there was always something looming around the corner to smack us in the face. Regardless of what the "big, crazy things" are that we face in life, they affect our mindset, they affect how we see and interact with our world. And it did affect us, at least in how we viewed our trip.
We were trying to figure out what the trip meant to us now because it had come to mean something very different for us than when we first started planning it. It didn't feel like it had that same energy. Then Jade came across that quote and I know I literally felt a release of anguish and stress and I could feel energy bubbling back up inside of me for our trip. Those words helped me hone in on what actually mattered about our trip; which is this: it isn't the destination that matters.
The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.
Seneca (1st Century philosopher)
It isn't our destinations that define us. Yes, we're excited about seeing the sunset at Santorini, about seeing our first NBA game (ok, that one might be me more than Jade), having a white Christmas and doing New Year's Eve in the Big Apple - but ultimately these are just stops along the route. In the same way, this hectic year does not define us. All the crazy things that have happened this year again, are just stops along the route. The constant is all of those things is the journey, the venture we're on together.
Sure, we have a plan for our trip, a rough itinerary but the future is still yet to happen. That's probably our biggest takeaway from the past few months and what has us so focussed on the purpose underlying our trip, rather than just the destinations. And that purpose really does boil down to those values we shared about in our first post: presence, being with and amongst people, and simplicity. We're not trying to cram an overseas trip in before we get too busy with our careers, or before we have kids; we're shaping a lifestyle that we want for our lives.
We've spent this last year trying to force certainty into our life every time we got smacked in the face with something unexpected. That U2 quote was a reminder there's only so much you can be certain about. The future hasn't happened yet, we don't know what's coming. What you can be certain about is how you approach life each and every day - to "pack your suitcase" and believe in the direction you're heading towards. Those values above, they'll live on after our travels and they will help us to continue to shape a lifestyle that we want, even when unexpected things (positive or negative) happen.
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