Day 5 of #Trust30 – Travel by Chris Guillebeau

If we live truly, we shall see truly. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?

(Author: Chris Guillebeau)

I could think of a hundred places in this world that I would like to travel.    From small towns, to big cities, to landmarks, to beaches, to mountains and that’s just in the United States.  Italy, Greece, Rome, Australia and Ireland are all countries I’d love to visit.  Someday.

Right now, it seems pointless to travel anywhere until I am able to be truly happy with where I am right now.

After deciding eleven years at the same job was enough, I am going to be doing some freelancing and consulting work with nonprofits.  I am super excited about that change.  My daughter is starting a new school in the fall.  She’s feeling a little anxious about that causing me to feel a lot anxious about that. This will be the first summer for both of us that we will have some down time.  I am terrified.

I dream of taking my kids to the swimming pool and laughing and playing and not think about the laundry that’s waiting for me at home, or the dirty bathrooms, or wondering if the dishwasher is done and if I can unload it in time before I make dinner, or thinking about taking out the trash on Tuesday when trash day isn’t until Thursday, is the coffee ready to go in the morning, are the lunches packed?  My brain doesn’t stop.  Someone always needs something.  My patience is thin with my kids.  My stress level is high with my family.  I’m not sure how to just stop.  I’m not someone that can sit still very long.

I have one really important goal for myself this summer.  It’s to learn how to relax.

Really relax.

My trip this summer isn’t about physically going away, it’s about allowing myself to mentally check out, or at the very least slow down.  If I can achieve my goal of learning how to relax, I won’t care where I am because for me, I will have achieved true happiness.

I can take that with me anywhere.