More to Life

One of the reasons I had to leave Instagram behind, at least temporarily, was that it was feeding an already unhealthy traveling addiction. Yet one post I saw on there has been on my mind these past couple of days. It said something like

Go somewhere you've never been, do something new. There's more to life than walking the same three streets and having coffee with the same three people day in, day out.

If they had to sum up my mindset, that would be a good encapsulation. There's gotta be more to life.

Some people think they can escape routine. I don't. Nor do I think routines are a bad thing. While my fairly scattered brain doesn't allow me to follow a strict schedule, I do nurture my own routine, as I think they can be very helpful. But like with most helpful, powerful things, they can spiral out of control. Routines have a way of wrapping themselves around your ankles like tendrils.

Before you know it, you're stuck in place. So you gotta keep moving. Throw the occasional wrench in the plan, just to sever some of those tendrils. Used wisely, routines can be an effective way to "do" life. Except most of us use them unwisely, which leads to us getting bogged down in schedules that are slowly killing us.

There's more to life than doing the same three things day in, day out.

You don't wanna end up looking back, knowing you took the same bleating walk every Friday, the same lunch date every Wednesday and so on. There has to be more somewhere. There has to be some excitement now and again, or your routines turn poisonous. And as I wrote recently, you wanna know you at least checked off some of the things on your "life I want" list.

I'm gonna be in Barcelona for a month starting tomorrow. I'm excited as all get-out. Scared, too. No matter how many times you get on the road, it stays scary. Exciting. Because of the possibilities, the variables that could go wrong.

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

I've spent a fair bit of time traveling. I know how to take care of myself, so I plan to keep my feet. But also to get swept up. I like my three people and streets, but next time I see them, I wanna be a little different. A little irrevocably changed.

I realized recently I'm not happy being in one place. I've tried. God (and my bank account) knows I've tried. I was saying as much to a friend, sort of wondering where life might take me aloud, and she said, "so we're here, again?". Staying put, I tried. It just doesn't work for me for too long. It makes something break down inside. As scary as it may be, the thrill of the road is something worth facing the unknown for.

So off we go. Again.