Pre-Departure
- Adam
- Nov 12, 2017
- 3 min read
Yesterday we had our last visit to an Australian beach before we depart. It was a gorgeous day for it too: a blue sky, bright sun but enough of a breeze to keep it from getting too sticking hot. The water was a deep blue with tinger of green. When you spend much of your summers sitting in front of a scene like that, it's easy to take it for granted. Yet, yesterday I was soaking it all in, admiring it for what could be the last time for a long time.
That might seem cheesy, but considering we're planning to be away for 14 months, predominantly in cold countries during winter, spending an afternoon soaking up the sun and salt water on a beach probably won't happen again until we're home. The beach then was an important place to savour and enjoy before our trip begins.
On shorter trips, you don't have to farewell things, people or places because you'll be back before you know it. Living overseas for over a year, on the other hand, constitutes a life transition. Not only is there the possibility that we'll change, it's also quite likely that the things, people and places that we love and have become accustomed to could change also.
This is not just a holiday for us, where we get to put things on pause for a couple of weeks, come back and pick up where we left off. 14 months is a long time. That's why we frame our trip in terms of lifestyle rather than holiday, our lives will go on and so will yours, there's no pause. So, before we leave, it's important that we take the time to close chapters.
And "chapter" is probably the right word for it. When we leave, it's not like we're ditching or bailing on the things and people we love. We're not running away. We want life and relationships and connections to continue to exist - but it will be different, if only for the fact we'll be thousands of kilometres away from those we love. While it's not a complete disconnect, we do acknowledge things will be very different over the next year or so.
We begin a new chapter in our story. When you read a book, you'll notice the author will either resolve or build the storyline at the end of a chapter as the story progresses into the next chapter. We think it is vital to spend time resolving or building before we begin our next chapter. I'll finish up with my respective jobs and complete an MBA. Jade will farewell her work. We've spent time on a beach already, so tick that one off! And we've been trying to catch up with all of our family and friends to strengthen those bonds for while we're away.
In a way, there's a journey that takes place even before you leave on a trip as long as ours. As we wrote about in the last post, you have to plan where all your possessions and belongings will go while you're away. And then there's this process with all the things, people and places that are most important to you, where you have to detach enough to leave, but bond enough that the relationships will endure the distance and time.
Really, these sorts of transitions aren't restricted to just those who travel. We all transition, whether to a physical destination or to a new place in life and development. Being aware of those transitions or changes and making them well, I think, is the key to having happiness, success and fulfilment in the next stage of life, whatever that next stage may be.
Life keeps moving and for us, it moves overseas in 34 days. Where is your life moving? Maybe your life is moving deeper into something you're working on? Maybe it's moving away from something you've spent a lot of time on? Maybe it's moving around in circles, coming back to the same place? Whatever it is, we get to journey well, by being aware of the small or big changes that are always happening, and by making them well.
Photo by Sai Kiran Anagani on Unsplash
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