I know why you don’t go on vacation as often as you would like, and the reasons why tell me more about you than you realize. It’s because the single most difficult part of traveling is commitment. Commitment is scary, forcing us to get out from behind our excuses and put a stake in the ground.
Travel-related or not, failure to commit in life is the high cost of low living.
People’s concept of travel runs the gamut: taking a family camping trip, a weekend bender in Las Vegas, or globetrotting halfway around the world. But what if travel were about more than that, and you could use it to uplevel every area of your life? What if travel could heal some of the deepest and oldest wounds impacting your well-being?
Peace flags fluttering in Kathmandu
Imagine every facet of your life (relationship, family, job, etc.) operating at an extraordinary and prosperous level. This is not limited to financial prosperity. I coach high-functioning individuals to greater levels of wealth in their personal and professional lives. Taking people on transformational journeys is one of the most powerful tools I use to unlock the extraordinary within.
The single most challenging part of traveling is commitment. Sometimes the reasons preventing travel are substantial and need to be honored. But oftentimes, people rationalize opportunities away through self-constructed limiting beliefs. We program ourselves to keep playing small and do not allow ourselves to step off the treadmill of life. Making a commitment empowers us and propels us forward.
The three biggest travel hesitations echo three of the biggest excuses in life: finances, time, and terror. Hiding behind these avoids commitment and keeps us small. Acknowledging and accepting these fears, while still moving through them, allows us to experience a powerful, self-affirming reality, one in which we make decisions unencumbered by limitations.
The stillness of Lake Champlain invites reflection
Finances: Money is necessary to function in society, but its power over us is mesmerizing. Every day we base decisions on money and these decisions often reflect a scarcity mentality we adopted early on. There never seems to be enough. As an alternative mindset, resources do not equate to resourcefulness. When desire meets opportunity, we find a way to make it happen.
Often, we do have the money, but prefer spending it on material items. We then judge our possessions by playing the comparison game against others, which is usually, if not always, a losing proposition. One of the best investments you can make is in yourself.
What’s fascinating is that we anticipate the purchase of a material possession with impatience, but once we commit to a vacation we anticipate it with eagerness.
I coached one woman who was on the verge of a significant breakthrough, and longed to go to Machu Picchu. But even with a six-figure job, she wouldn’t give herself the permission to invest in herself. And that’s okay. Opportunities meet people where they are, and not everyone is ready to challenge the status quo. We squirrel money away in the bank because we require a certain balance to feel secure.
Question: How does your relationship with money or material acquisition limit you?
Spellbound by the Himalayas on the road to Everest Base Camp
Time: There never seems to be enough of this manmade creation. Stress builds over marked-up day planners and bulging e-mail inboxes. We prioritize our work projects and then often claim victimhood. Many people lament not spending enough time with their kids or their loved ones due to work. Alignment to our values maintains contact with what is important to us. Travel means carving out time to explore your values and choose yourself.
One recent client withheld her travel plans from her boss because it was happening in the busy fourth quarter. She was a top performer and did not want to disappoint her director or seem uncommitted. Yet when she abandoned her fear and approached him, he was 100% onboard and encouraged her to tack an extra day on the back end. She felt empowered, and attained her quarterly targets with grace.
Question: Are you spending time in accordance with your deeply held values? Do you even know what your deeply held values are?
The Taj Mahal is on the bucket list of many world travelers
Terror: We live in a world where violence and random acts of terror occur too often. Diseases and viruses like Ebola and Zika promote terrifying headlines. Many people feel that what is familiar is safe, and what is foreign is dangerous. Often, these people don’t self-identify as ‘adventurous’ and try hard to control their circumstances to feel safer. Psychologically, we assume we have more control over familiar surroundings. Grasp for a moment, however, how minuscule the chance of a terrorist attack is, versus a car crash a few blocks from home. There were 4,837 confirmed Zika cases in Mexico (a country of ~125 million people) as of October 20, 2016, and only one confirmed congenital birth issue. Does that mean that you should cancel your trip to Tulum? It’s critical to take adequate precautions, but dig deeper than the headlines to research the risks for yourself.
Question: How is being scared to die a reflection of being scared to live?
Getting off the beaten path means new experiences that invite us to challenge our expectations
Many people feel that commitment weds them to a plan and eliminates flexibility, when the exact opposite is true. In commitment, there is freedom. Moving out of indecision into commitment is often accompanied by an increased feeling of lightness and empowerment.
People have difficulty committing to themselves, often viewing it as selfish or indulgent. I have a coaching client who recently committed to a journey I am leading. He has been working full time since his parents got him a youth exemption to work at 14 years old, and subsequently chose to always put duty and responsibility first. Growing up in an austere Protestant family, he never remembered feeling joy. In committing, he has opened his heart to choose himself after 40 years. His decision will have a ripple effect, providing a reference point for joy for him to integrate elsewhere in life upon his return.
Machu Picchu veiled by early morning clouds and shrouded in stillness
The commitment to travel is the hardest part of the journey, because it means committing to ourselves. For people who lament an inability to commit to themselves through travel, it may mean they are choosing to play small across multiple areas of life. We are molded by the collection of experiences we have, the places we go, and the world we’ve seen.
The latest iPhone release doesn’t change who we are. But camping by the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon certainly will alter our perspective and generate insight.
We often create obstacles and misunderstandings around finances, time, and overblown safety concerns. In doing so, we deprioritize ourselves and forfeit an opportunity to grow. Commitment is that turning point in life when you seize the moment to shift your destiny.
How committed are you to your aliveness?
Louis Amoroso coaches high-functioning individuals to greater levels of success in their professional and personal lives. He uses travel as one tool to accelerate change and transformation. Louis has an MBA from Duke University and a Masters in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica. He lives in Chicago, and can be reached at www.TravelLight.world.