With the European Union choosing to ban travel from America, it could be easy to give up on this whole endeavor. The entire idea of removing clutter from my life, and open myself up to the opportunity to travel. One could very well look at this situation and say, “What’s the point?” Even with things looking grim for the foreseeable future, now is certainly not the time to give up on finding meaning and experiencing the world. If anything, it simply kicks my plans further down the road. I have always known from the offset that this was going to be a journey to adapt a new lifestyle. Maybe this allows me more time to focus on and take the time to really analyze what is worth holding onto.
It forces me to take longer to establish, and plan out where, and what I want to do. I wasn’t too keen on traveling during a pandemic, and this decision forces me to no longer even have Europe as an option. I easily recognize that I am still very far from being ready to fill a backpack and go anywhere. This time allows me the chance to focus even harder on establishing the tasks I need to accomplish before I run off into the great blue yonder.
There is still a lot that I can work on in the meantime and by no way have my dreams of traveling been dashed. I am choosing to view this time as an opportunity to learn more about this change, and take a little longer to go through all my current possessions. I am not in a hurry to rush out the front door. But I am not going to take this time as a defeat. There is still plenty I can be doing right now to be ready when things finally return to normal.
I also don’t want to view this as a reason to let off the gas on this project; because I do want there to be a sense of urgency. Even if it is not to meet a travel deadline of “Before thirty”. Since none of us know how long this crisis is going to last. I want to continue to strive for what I can change while I am waiting for things to get better. I can still continue to remove clutter from my life. I can still work on planning a trip. I can continue to go for early morning walks. I can continue to work all the time, and do my best to save as much as I can. Just because there is a ban on travel from America to the EU does not mean there will never be travel opportunities again. All it does is push the deadlines and dates back until it is reasonable for Americans to travel to Europe again. I feel no injustice over this decision, and accept it for what it is, an opportunity to focus on the changes I need to make. So that I can be ready when things open up. Maybe it’s in a year, or maybe shorter, maybe longer. No one truly knows, but it is important to not be stuck in your own journey and stop growing. Keep working on the things you can right now.
If you have been following along with this blog and are working on your own goals please understand that there is no race to achieve anything. Yes, there should be some sense of urgency. But do not become complacent, and continue to strive for the things you can do right now. So, rather than view this as a terrible thing that puts my goal out of reach, I view it as moving the finish line a little further away, but it is not impossible to make up this ground. Even if I was further along in this journey, there would still be things I could focus on rather than feeling bummed that I won’t be celebrating my thirtieth birthday in Ireland or Germany, I chose to focus on this as allowing me to be better prepared, when I do eventually make it to those countries. Besides, there are places in the US that are open to travel, and as things gradually get better, maybe I take advantage of those travel opportunities. Who knows, maybe I celebrate my thirtieth birthday on a beach in California or backpack through a nearby state for a little bit.
It could be fun, and I could even use it as a dry run to make sure that I am able to travel on my own. Either way, all good things, as long as you continue to grow and move forward, change will come. Small progress is still progress. Thank you for reading and being a part of this journey.
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