Hit the road without leaving your street

Photo by Zack Miloff

A wall-sized map of the world animated my childhood kitchens in Edmonton, Winnipeg, New York and Montreal.  Geography was a favorite family game. We had vacations in Rome and London in the 1960s. I grew up seeing travel as a source of fun, adventure and escape. 

The lure of travel is often accompanied by a hope. A hope for change, for personal metamorphosis and for discovering a more inspiring version of ourselves. A hope for something and someone new and improved. At the very least, a change from our routines.

The lure of the road

Recently my brother’s family took a road trip in Arizona and Utah. Their photos were amazing, so now I want to take the same kind of trip. I want a great adventure with incredible scenery.

There’s just one hitch: I can't stand sitting in a car for hours each day.  The inactivity is counter to my nature.  My back aches just thinking about it.  I also worry about "unhealthy" roadside meals and bad beds in airless motel rooms.  I fear a road trip will bring on bouts of the restlessness and worry that travel is designed to conquer.

It's a real shame.  Because being on the road means experiences and people of the unexpected and unforgettable variety. All this captivates my imagination, especially in deepest February.

How to hit the road without leaving your street

All my travels to date have taught me that, once the trip is over, we are back to where we started.  So how can we capture the transformative feeling of travel – the adventure, the unexpected, the new – without taking a trip?  
I have a few ideas on the subject:

• Our personalities and conditioning shape much of how we think, feel and behave. If we can become more conscious of our unconscious sides – if we pay more attention to our automatic habits, responses and reactions – we can learn a lot about ourselves. And this can transport us into new realms of thinking and feeling. Something like a road trip.
• A change to our home environment can have significant impact on how we feel. Throwing out, rearranging or buying something new to improve the aesthetics of our homes can feel really good. Something like a road trip.
• We can get bored with ourselves, especially when we get repetitive. When we tell ourselves the same stories over and over. Or when we keep telling ourselves, “that's the way I am.” Trying on new ways of behaving and thinking can subtly influence the way we respond, internally and externally. Something like a road trip.
• Talk to people – anywhere and anyplace.  Ask questions. Share something about who you are and what you care about. Be interested in the response. Again, something like a road trip.

Hit the road,
Coach Minda