Today was another big day of work, more so on my normal obligations than on this trip. My attention and time were fully occupied by some surprise bad news about the basement renovation. When Stef and I finally settled in to re-packing and prepping, it was already late evening. But even if I started off stuck in the daily grind, something changed in me today so that my attention is finally settling on this trip. It really is happening! As we pick up speed today and take flight (metaphorically and literally) tomorrow, we’re both casting off a lot of the mundane things that weigh us down in our everyday lives and moving into something very new and very different.
I titled my first post yesterday “Call to Adventure” as a reference to the Hero’s Journey. Today’s title also refers to those times before the main journey begins. The Hero’s Journey has been on my mind a lot as the trip approaches. In my normal life, I feel stuck, trapped in patterns of thoughts and circumstances and behaviors that aren’t going where I feel I should. This trip is a gigantic disruption to those patterns and, I hope, a chance to go through my own hero’s journey and return changed. This is a tall order and frankly a lot to ask of a trip where a lot of normal things will happen: Frites will be eaten, hours will pass on trains, feet will be sore from the walking, etc. But I am aiming to do something on this different level: learning about a new world, overcoming some challenges and ultimately living in a new way.
After writing about all this, I find it too pretentious for an audience who, let’s face it, wants to see beautiful pictures and hear interesting stories more than they want to deconstruct my psychology. If you must know, my “Refusing the Call” phase has mostly meant procrastinating on trip prep and my “Meeting a Mentor” is everyone around me, from Adam to my parents to Stef herself, telling me and showing me how very excellent this trip could be. With that, I’m moving that content somewhere Stef and I can collaborate. This blog is for my friends and family.
And now… one day closer to the start!
This is interesting to read, because I’m asking my own questions about what I/we stand to gain from this trip. Will it be a long list of itinerary items checked, sights seen, and schedules met? Will we get wonderfully lost and see where our feet take us? Will there be time to reflect, meditate, and process so it’s not a blur of photos and half-remembered meals? I can tend to get a little checklisty, even – maybe especially – when I travel. I’ve got my hero Daniel to keep me from clinging so hard to the plan that I keep myself from having a real adventure.
I’m reflecting a bit on what I would investigate in myself and this new (old) world. I absolutely love my life. I love my family, my home, my work. I am maybe a little complacent in that. I’ve been in a loop of trying to live the life I think is right every day. I evaluate it, I measure it, and I track it. Literally. I do feel good about the everyday. But like I didn’t know what sobriety had to offer me until I did it, and like I didn’t know what meditation had to offer me until I did it, maybe I don’t know what this has to offer me until I do it.
There’s more I could say but there’s so much to do! I think this will be a recurring theme, so let’s see what I say about it in a couple of days!
Looking forward to more of these reflections along with photos and discoveries.
Here’s to crossing the threshold!