Traveling the World: The Real Journey is Internal

Since 2012, I’ve packed up everything I own and put it in a storage unit 3 different times. Once in 2012, once in 2017 and once again in 2019. Each time was a different chapter in my life, but one thing remained consistent. I always desired change and knowledge.

Sitting in one place becomes routine. You wake up in the same bed, goto the same gym, eat at the same places, see the same people - every day. That works for a lot of people, but it’s too repetitive for me.

There’s so many things to learn on the road that being local can’t offer. Between learning different cultures, trying different food, learning how to navigate new cities or towns, new hotels, airbnbs, supermarkets, zoning out on red eye flights, different energies, new vibes, hearing new music, managing & moving money on a daily basis — the list goes on. You’re constantly sharpening your mind with new sights, sounds and experiences. There’s never a dull moment. The best part about travel is you expand your mind far beyond everything you’ve been taught. You can’t get these kind of experiences staying local because we get too comfortable.

I’ve reached a place in my life where I’ve taken a step back and started to enjoy the journey of life & the education it provides rather than the destinations. I owe this thinking to a few good books I decided to listen to during my travels to help supercharge my learning. Why get 1 education when you can get 2? Street smarts from traveling and book smarts from reading.

Ever since listening to Extreme Ownsership by Jocko Willink & Leif Babin, I’ve started to take ownership and blame for everything in my life. I break down every action and reaction and try to learn from it. When you’re always right, you can never learn. And even when I’m right, I think about where I may have been wrong in my thinking. I’m in a constant battle with improving myself.

I’ve been micromanaging my moment to moment decisions because every action has a reaction and I believe we can have a better forecast of what’s going to happen next when we’re conscious, mentally prepared and moving the right way. It’s all comes down to being fully present in the moment.

Every choice we make leads us down a different path. If you’re sitting at home deciding what you’re going to do today — what you end up doing, where you go, who you spend your time with and for how long are all a bunch of variables and decisions turned into events that eventually equal a result. We are the architects of our lives and the choices create the look & feel of it.

Here’s a small example of not being in the moment. Yesterday, when getting out of a taxi, the taxi driver gave me the card machine so I could pay. I was thinking about what I had to do when I got out of the taxi instead of finishing the moment in the taxi, first.

Because I was thinking about what’s next and I wasn’t present, I handed the machine back too soon and I didn’t see the option for USD or CAD that I was waiting for. Because I handed the machine back, the choice was now in his hands, he chose CAD (his local currency) instead of me choosing USD (my local currency) like I wanted to. So, I got hit with a foreign transcation fee.

This isn’t a big deal, but these moments that slip away from not being present add up. That’s how you lose your wallet, forget your card, pay extra fees, etc. It’s the little moment to moment decisions that shape our day.

Nowadays I look at it life like a movie. I’m always trying to create a good script for myself, better my character & enjoy my role.