The High Stakes Game of Travel & Life

Trying to decide if you should take off and go traveling?

Know this…

You are now part of a high stakes game.

How high are the stakes?

Impossibly high.

Much higher than you can even imagine.

It’s hard to quantify how high exactly.

There is no pile of chips waiting to be cashed in.

No time bomb that needs dismantled.

You’re not tied to a chair while a James Bond super villain is minutes away from destroying the planet while only you can stop it.

In this high takes game, nothing is visible.

Yet the stakes reach unfathomable heights.

This game is your life, and the question is this…

Is your soul begging for travel?

Are you feeling a sense that wandering can fulfill the deepest part of you?

Do you know at your core that this is something you MUST do?

As you stand on the precipice, fired up and ready to leap into the abyss expect an unwelcome visitor to arrive.

Who?

Your mind.

It slowly takes over your soul with ‘rational’ thoughts.

“You don’t have enough money to travel.”
“When do you have the time to travel, it’s just not possible?”
“But I could ruin my career if I take off now!”

Where did YOU go?

The YOU who matters. Not the babbling fear based brain but the person seated firmly behind, ready to take a risk.

Deciding to travel or not is like straddling two universes. It’s fairly straightforward…

In one universe, you get to travel.

In the other, you keep doing what you are doing and maybe one day you’ll travel.

Which universe do you want to live in?

Is there a better time than now?

When a ‘better time’ comes will you take advantage of it?

When faced with a tough decision I always say to myself:

If not now, then when?

Spiritual nourishment comes in many forms. For some of us it comes from traveling.

Knowing this is powerful, because you don’t have to starve anymore.

You can just go, feed yourself, and see what happens. Travel is more accessible than ever.

What does happen when you travel?

Anything and everything.
Good things and bad stuff.
Sunsets and stars.
Laughs and cries.
Lows and highs.
Fear and suffering
Joys and insights
Occasionally destiny (if you’re lucky).
Life.

Why are the stakes so high?

Every choice you make affects the direction your life goes.

Choosing not to travel is the same as picking anything over something else.

You are giving up a unique set of experiences in exchange for another. We all do this, every single day. After all, we can’t do everything.

You have to decide what is worth giving up and what isn’t.

Can you afford to miss chance meetings with people who may change your life forever with one idea?

Will you skip visiting the places you long to touch, smell and experience while creating the memories you will savor on your deathbed?

Are you willing to stay home because it’s easier, and pretend what you really want to do doesn’t exist?

Travel isn’t hard.

Tauru and Christi, who happen to be legally blind, biked 16,000 miles.

Nate put one foot in front of the other and walked 3000+ miles across the USA.

Graham spent 4 years going to every country in the world spending $100/week.

You can buy a plane ticket (even get one for free) and just go.

Hop on a train, walk out the front door, grab a unicycle, just put yourself in motion.

Travel is simply moving in one direction until you arrive somewhere while being present with the world, and experiencing all it has to offer.

Choosing to travel is often harder than the physical act of traveling.

There are so many things to break free from.

Once you go, you’ve already broken free. That part is easy.

Should you go traveling?

Do it.

Don’t do it.

Those are your options.

It’s your call to make.

Either way life will go on, it always does.

Only you know what you need to do.

The stakes are high.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.