Travelling Is Not The Solution

I was stressed. I was ready for a vacation. And I thought it just takes a very long vacation and everything will automagically get better and will get back to normal – my old self: calm, relaxed, centered. Traveling has always worked wonders for me. A couple of weeks for myself and I felt completely reborn. But this time it’s different…

Our trip is great. I love to see all these new places. I’ve never been to Central America before. I enjoy time with my family. And I understand the privilege and luxury of being able to stay away from work for 6 months.

It’s been almost two months now since I stopped working. And I am more relaxed. Of course, I notice some positive changes. But what’s more interesting to me is what does not change. I’m still less patient then I used to be. It’s hard to fully enjoy the moment. I’m not as much in the flow of traveling. It’s not that I’d be still thinking about work. I don’t even remember when I last thought about my job. It’s far away.

I think what I underestimated was the impact of my two year old son. He needs a lot of attention. He doesn’t have friends here. He can’t go out and play with other kids because mostly there aren’t any. Or they can’t communicate because he doesn’t speak Spanish. So, he’s stuck with us. And he wants our attention every waking moment. It’s my new full-time job.

There’s not that much time we have for ourselves. And when he’s finally asleep at night, I’m tired too.

And the traveling needs a lot of attention too. There’s a lot to be organized. What do we do today? Where do we stay tomorrow? How do we get from A to B? What do we eat? Do we still have enough diapers?

This leaves little room for wandering thoughts that tend to sort themselves out all by themselves. Before, when I was on vacation I could sit at a lake or in a cafe for hours doing nothing but let my mind flow. It explored all the unsolved issues there were and somehow came up with a solution. Now, there are only fragments of time.

And all the things I thought, I’d finally find the time to do – like meditation, sport, writing – are as hard to integrate in our travel life as before in our busy work schedule. No significant meditation or sport or writing up to now.

So, traveling itself doesn’t do the trick. Just like with a work life, I need to establish some habits that support my goals. There’s still plenty of time left to figure out a way how to do our family traveling our way so it’s rewarding and fun for everyone of us.