What to do When Nothing Goes as Planned When Traveling
Recently I took a four-day road trip down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. And let me tell you something, absolutely nothing went as planned. But let me tell you something else, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm not going to go into all the details of my car breaking or duct taping the bumper back together, but I'll put it this way: the six-hour drive to the beach involved duct tape, two pounds of french fries and lost of music...it was definitely memorable.
It rained most of the trip off and on, our itinerary was scrapped 20 minutes into our drive (and the rest of the trip) but still every day was perfect. We had no plans for how our days would go, we'd wake up whenever (or when we'd smelled coffee), go to bed whenever, and just do what felt right. If we wanted to lay in the sand and dig holes at the beach for hours, we did. If we wanted to drive half an hour away to chase the sunset, we did. Nothing held us back. Time had no hold on us.
Sitting on the cold, dirty, sandy, kitchen tile floor in the mornings, hot coffee in my hands, tired sleepy eyes blinking in the sun, my skin soaking up the sunlight, a thought came to me that I get quite often when I travel; I wanna feel this way forever. With traveling comes unexplainable joy to me. It brings me complete happiness. No matter what, life always feels utterly perfect while traveling. Even if absolutely nothing is going as planned, it’s still perfect.
So my advice on what to do when nothing goes as planned? Soak up the sunshine, feel the rain on your skin, drink in the coffee, enjoy riding shotgun with your hand out the window and always carry duct tape with you (you never know when you might need it). Life will always go nothing like it's planed - whether you are traveling or just in general - but the way you react to it will determine if you get the most out of it. Will you fight the currents and get tired out or swim in them, letting it take you to where your next adventure is in store? Your happiness is up to you. and I don't know about you guys, but I think life's more fun when nothing goes as planned. When you let life happen, happiness will always follow. I promise.
And just a general life tip, life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful. My life is far from perfect, everyone’s life is far from perfect, but wow is it wonderful. Don't let the societal construct of what the "perfect life" looks like make you feel like your life has to be the same cookie-cutter life. If your life makes you happy, then it's a good life. Next time everything goes "wrong", take a minute to enjoy it because I can guarantee life is actually going right.
