The worst way to grow from a blog is to neglect it for weeks at a time. The past three weeks have been full of ignoring my blog. Mostly, I’ve spent a lot of time traveling, and the weeks that I’m not traveling have been taken up by races, weddings, work, and the epiphanies of everyday life.
I’ve always enjoyed travel. When I was a child, we were lucky enough to spend time traveling with my dad when he had conferences or guest professorships in Europe. In fact, we spent a few summers living in Linz, Austria – where I developed my appreciation for town squares and discovered my lack of affection for spoken German. I’ve been from the Straits of Malacca to the Taj Mahal, and until recently, I’ve never had a problem maintaining my life while on the road.
But these past few months have been crazier than most, and because of it, I realize that my travel schedule has taken over my life. When I’m on the road, I’m constantly moving from city to city, as most of my trips aren’t long enough to spend more than a few nights in one place. When I’m home, I’m preparing for the next trip while taking care of things that can only be done at home.
I once read that your life can’t be put on hold while you travel, and I’m now understanding what that means. I don’t do a great job of hitting the gym or creating new designs or coming up with intelligent blog posts when I’m away from home. Although those are things that I really value, I let those things be interrupted by my weekends (and weeks) away. I never feel like I have enough time to do them perfectly, so I end up not doing them at all.
So I’m trying to do better. What travel is good for, at least for me, is exposure to new ideas and some downtime to think about them (essential for ENFJ types to grow). So here’s a thought to grow on from my recent travels – this weekend, I went on a hike to the Seven Sisters waterfalls in Palm Springs Indian Canyons. At the top of the canyon, we jumped into a snow-melt waterfall that was just a few degrees above freezing. I tried to toe my way in the water and just couldn’t bring myself to fully submerge in the pool (submersion in cold water makes your peripheral vessels constrict and your blood pressure skyrocket). Finally, our guide, Jason, pulled me into the water and dragged me, kicking and screaming, under the waterfall.
And you know what? It all ended up just fine.
Sometimes, you just have to dive in headfirst and not worry about how you’ll feel afterwards. Sometimes, you have to squeeze in your two-mile run on the treadmill instead of the full 10k, because doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing at all. Not all posts have to be perfect, not all thoughts fully baked. That's what my travel schedule has taught me this week.
I’ve always enjoyed travel. When I was a child, we were lucky enough to spend time traveling with my dad when he had conferences or guest professorships in Europe. In fact, we spent a few summers living in Linz, Austria – where I developed my appreciation for town squares and discovered my lack of affection for spoken German. I’ve been from the Straits of Malacca to the Taj Mahal, and until recently, I’ve never had a problem maintaining my life while on the road.
But these past few months have been crazier than most, and because of it, I realize that my travel schedule has taken over my life. When I’m on the road, I’m constantly moving from city to city, as most of my trips aren’t long enough to spend more than a few nights in one place. When I’m home, I’m preparing for the next trip while taking care of things that can only be done at home.
I once read that your life can’t be put on hold while you travel, and I’m now understanding what that means. I don’t do a great job of hitting the gym or creating new designs or coming up with intelligent blog posts when I’m away from home. Although those are things that I really value, I let those things be interrupted by my weekends (and weeks) away. I never feel like I have enough time to do them perfectly, so I end up not doing them at all.
So I’m trying to do better. What travel is good for, at least for me, is exposure to new ideas and some downtime to think about them (essential for ENFJ types to grow). So here’s a thought to grow on from my recent travels – this weekend, I went on a hike to the Seven Sisters waterfalls in Palm Springs Indian Canyons. At the top of the canyon, we jumped into a snow-melt waterfall that was just a few degrees above freezing. I tried to toe my way in the water and just couldn’t bring myself to fully submerge in the pool (submersion in cold water makes your peripheral vessels constrict and your blood pressure skyrocket). Finally, our guide, Jason, pulled me into the water and dragged me, kicking and screaming, under the waterfall.
And you know what? It all ended up just fine.
(photo courtesy of Jason Bruecks... that water was colder than it looks!)
Sometimes, you just have to dive in headfirst and not worry about how you’ll feel afterwards. Sometimes, you have to squeeze in your two-mile run on the treadmill instead of the full 10k, because doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing at all. Not all posts have to be perfect, not all thoughts fully baked. That's what my travel schedule has taught me this week.
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