*Buzz* 6 am. Time to go. 30 minutes to get out the door to start the day right. Gotta grab my mat, towels and boardshorts. Jump on a scoot. Off to yoga.
I made a promise to myself last year I would dedicate to being able to do a headstand. If you saw me at the beginning of this, you would have seen a clumsy, stiff dude who could barely move. Everything hurt, and it was so early — class starts at 7:30. After 4 months of yoga 5 days/week, today I did my first handstand. Unassisted, full tilt up to the sky.
Over the past month, both of my roommates have embarked on journeys — one short, and the other without an end in sight. I’ve been anticipating some sort of wanderlust, but it hasn’t hit me quite yet. I think I might be already living it.
Breaking it down:
Learning. What would you do if you woke up with a hunger to love, learn and grow? Every morning. Every day. All the time. What if this hunger drove you beyond the walls of constraint we all put around ourselves, in order to keep things safe and routine.
Health. Who cares about how much money you make or how successful you are in your career if you can’t keep relationships or take care of your body? What does it really matter when your health is fading? At the end of the day, we must appreciate our human selves before indulging the ego that loves so much title, accolades, and recognition. Failure can be spun as a situation that forces us to be humble. Use those failures to learn and grow, and realize it’s OK if everything doesn’t go to plan.
Relationships. Find your tribe. The people that resonate with your essence. The ones that listen to your stories about what you did for lunch, and actually care. Keep friends who keep their promises, and cut out the ones that lack substance, morals, or values. Surround yourself with great people that do something better than you.
When you take a look at traveling, why is it so great? Is it the unlimited time you have at your disposal, without commitments of waking up early for work? Is it that cool Aussie you met in Colombia? Probably has a lot to do with it, and when you take a look deeper into the backpacking experience, a few common themes stand out:
1. Mission — Why are you here?
2. Place — Where are you?
3. Activity — What and How are you going to fulfill your mission?
4. People — Who are you going to connect with?
What if you could extend this feeling of wanderlust and newness to your daily routine? Universal themes that can be extended to other modes of life — it would keep things fresh and you can grow in one place with strong relationships.
Every morning at home is a new adventure. Every day at yoga is a new practice. Going into work and getting in one minute earlier or later than the day before can change how I start the day in the office.I have even gotten into cold-pressed juices, downing one every morning before the morning cup of coffee. Mostly since starting this yoga binge, I have been able to refocus my energy on the present moment with the people that matter.
The downside of traveling is that settling isn’t an option. By its definition, a trip is temporary. Yes, you can be in one place for a few months or a year, or even two years like I did in Chile. Why do these amazing, euphoric feelings of freedom have to be so fleeting? They don’t have to be so evasive. You just need to be here to feel.
Author’s note: I’m still a stiff dude, just a bit more enlightened. Thanks for reading!
