I remember back when... Travel was a road trip to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg or Kings Dominion, Virginia every summer for my friends annual trip or the random cross-country road trips with my mom and dad when I was a kid. Every second from beginning to end was planned out.
But today the word Chaos has come up a lot in my thoughts. I recently set off on a trip cross-country helping a friend with her business transporting three dogs, from North Carolina to Washington State. After dropping the pups off I spent the next few weeks in Victoria, BC, and Vancouver, BC. Now I am headed back to Seattle, WA for a few days and off again on another doggie excursion for my friend's company.
My life for the past couple of months was anything but planned. In Victory, BC I went on a simple hike to the top of a mountain and like many of my adventures, I lost the path. I planned heavily since I was taking off on my own reading reviews and finding weather details. Losing the path lead me to scaling the side of a mountain holding on for dear life, splashing through freezing cold water, finding a bunch of dead things (literally), a jacket at the bottom a cliff with scissors in the pocket, and created a landslide only to come crawling out of the woods looking like a blonde Laura Craft on a bad day. And like most adventures, a really attractive, completely symmetrical guy, the kind of guy you would actually see in the movies stood a few feet away. I tried to tiptoe away before he saw the blood running down my leg and the random thrones stuck in my hair but clearly, my stealth-like moves didn't work.
The movie star wanna-be invited me to a meditation session at a Buddhist temple. My fluttering heart answered for me, that's a big fat YES. I followed him across the city to the ceremony and realized at that point I had bright orange lulu's on, mud all over me, and my hair was displayed as a rats nest.
I thought I had enough time to join the session without being late but as a country-girl trying to figure out city life and what they call "pay for parking" meters and all that nonsense I ended up strolling in late only to interrupt a very tranquil place. Everyone was wearing black robes or natural colors. They were all covered up and professional. Me... not so much.
The instructor met me in a quiet room to show me the different ways of sitting. With a pillow in between my legs and my short lulus looking like I am in an X rated magazine, I realize that yet again I have put myself in a situation where I don't truly belong. Laughing at myself as the man tells me that when I am meditating in the ceremony that I am to count to ten and if I don't make it start over. When the pillow talk was over I followed the man back to the ceremony room where I was instructed to break into the line.
During the walking meditation portion, I analyzed peoples socks. One had Halloween socks on, must befriend her. "Wow, that guy needs to clean his feet." "That guy has holes." I became fixated on his holes and then we sat. I watched as some of the older members gave me death stares because of my attire, I am assuming. And then I watched as everyone began their meditation. My cute guy sat across from me smirking at my awkward confidence. And then it was over, I never made it to number one. We had a tea ceremony after where we all sat in a circle and introduced ourselves. The night ended with us helping to put the pillows away. The awkward moments in life have turned out to be the best ones but the unplanned moments have always turned out the be most worth having. These moments keep me moving forward without them I would be depressed and miserable in a routine that belongs to someone else.
After a few days in Victoria, I made my way back to the ferry over to Vancouver, BC. A city of beauty and nature surrounding in every direction. My first day in the city I took off on foot for what was supposed to be a short walk but ended up being an eight-hour tour around the city. The next day I was in so much pain from pounding the pavement that I was stuck in bed not able to move. I canceled three networking events because of my malfunction of a thought.
Planning becomes chaotic when you realize life doesn't always follow that path. If you asked me in high school if being a professional traveler would have occupied my first ten years of adulthood, I am not sure what I would have said. My entire life, I have been different. I am fueled by adventure and do not thrive without new experiences that lead me to exhaustion. I am 33 years old and watch as others have it all figured out. I watch the women with their kids waiting for their husbands to get home or the women who have big-time careers. They all seem to have it figured out. They cook dinner or go to work. They know day after day what they are going to do which makes me wonder if I choose the wrong path.
And then I think of living in Japan, learning to snowboard in Alaska, falling in love in Canada, climbing buildings with my first love, jumping off waterfalls, wandering million-year-old caves that only a few people have been in, or all the moments I have attempted to climb a mountain with a harness and gear, I wouldn't give up my chaos for the world. I realize that I may not have it all figured out and I realize that other people may look at me differently because I have chosen this life but it will never change the fact that when it is my time to die, I will have lived more with each year than most people will live in an entire lifetime.
Too many people plan their every move, stay in jobs they dislike or truly wish they could be someone else. Maybe they look in the mirror and hate what they see but are stuck in the view of society. Whatever you fancy can be yours if you stop planning and start doing. Fear can drive you forward or hold you back, never allow yourself to fall short of what you believe is the right path or decision for you. Screw the world and be you!
