To the Prospective Full-Time Traveler: Is it Really “Living the Dream”?
What a question! There is so much wrapped up in the thought, it’s hard to know where to start. But if you are thinking about such a life, you need to look inside and out.
IT REALLY BEGINS WITH WHY
To determine whether this new life will reflect your dream of it, you’ll have to contemplate something. There are plenty of reasons why people want to travel full time, but truth be told most of us having made such a decision are either running away from something or exploring outward in search of something.
That something has a big part to play in how you will interpret your new life.
IF you hear a calling from the unknown where people, places, interactions and comfort zone-smashing experiences await, then you are likely to be more accepting of the stumbles and small missteps that invariably occur along the way.
You are after all, forging a new path for yourself – one that you could not have imagined previously, or in any real way prepared for.
On the flip side, IF your goal of traveling full time is born out of escaping a boss that drives you crazy or a hometown with too many gray skies in winter, then your road ahead is destined to be difficult. There are gray skies everywhere, and your boss’s personality is not unique.
WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE!
Ah, the life of traveling full time! Complete freedom on the road. Delicious new foods. A unique and different place to lay your head each night. New friends around the world. Experiencing places you’ve only encountered in books. History that comes alive – that you can literally touch.
Encountering both ordinary and amazing people that rekindle your faith in human nature.
Witnessing the planet’s natural world, its variety, diversity, richness and miraculous connections. Finding a new understanding of our place as humans and our responsibilities to our neighbors and our home. Developing a worldview - based on real experiences - that defines who you are as an individual and your purpose among the rest.
The possibilities are limitless and deeper than you can imagine. But each of these comes at a cost and requires effort to achieve. Take each one and think for a moment about what that effort might entail. And if you are wondering what full-time travel must be like, remember this: it is possible to enter this lifestyle and neither feel nor witness nor discover any of these potentially life-changing experiences.
A life that meets the dream requires you to be present in it, and an ongoing effort to keep your mind and your heart wide open.
NO RESPONSIBILITIES = FREEDOM= CONFUSION?
Be prepared. That is a great life goal. Of course, it helps if someone has warned you ahead of time what you should prepare for. Coaching here is hard to come by …
As it turns out, when you leave your 9 to 5 and your to-do list behind in favor of free time, adventure and untethered travel, something unexpected happens.
There are tie-downs from your old life that remain hooked to a part of you. And they work really hard to reel you back. Most of us humans tend to identify ourselves based on how we spend the bulk of our time – which is typically on the jobsite.
When we free ourselves of these responsibilities, we unwittingly free ourselves of our self-concept, and our perception of our purpose, our value and our place in the world.
This is no small burden to bear. These definitions (namely our worth, value and purpose) are not set in stone – but our belief in them is so solid that our heavily sought-after, newfound freedom can leave us barely treading water. The truth of the matter, as you embark on this new lifestyle, is that you are far from devoid of value or purpose and are instead a blank slate of potential.
But that takes some time to accept and can be more difficult to reconcile than you might imagine.
PERSPECTIVE IS EVERYTHING
Think for a moment of all the amazing adventures full-time travel might bring. When you consider those experiences, know that you are just scratching at the surface and that your list is a small, two dimensional black and white version of your Technicolor 3-D life to come.
However, as with all things, the reality is complex.
Traveling a great distance requires great effort. There can be great expense, but lessons on avoiding unnecessary expenses abound. You are free from responsibilities at work, but miss the friends you have there. New struggles around every corner are a guarantee. But, you will come to define those as challenges, and your collection serves to remind you that none held you back. You will be unsure of who you are, but you will realize the old definition used the wrong concepts entirely. You will learn so much from other people, not realizing you are being a role model for others at the same time.
Becoming a minimalist will finally make total sense – all the while, you will be collecting the whole world!
IS IT LIVING THE DREAM?
You will have to try it and answer that for yourself.
As for me, I cannot image turning back!
