First stop, Pittsburgh! Nothing new in Pittsburgh; an old friend.
I thought it was funny to be starting the journey of saying good-bye to the known, to the stability, to the mediocre by saying ‘hello’ to the old.
It’s been about three years since I’ve seen my friend there. Only a couple minutes after getting there, it was like no time had passed. Her sense of humor quickly reminded me why we’re friends, but her statement a couple hours later is what really struck me.
“You’ve been talking about this for a while.” Of course, she followed that up by saying I’m crazy and she doesn’t understand why I’m doing it, but at least my friends are honest.
It’s great catching up with people you haven’t seen in a while – people that you still consider friends. Pulled out of your norm, old friends can easily remind you of what’s important to you.
You see, I’ve been talking about traveling and working “for a while.” Given that I haven’t seen her in three years, “for a while” really emphasizes that this is a something I’ve wanted to do… for a while.
How long have you been putting off that thing?
If you’re thinking about making a big change – doing something everyone is saying is crazy – here’s a helpful hint:
Go talk to an old friend.
A month or so before I left, I caught up with two people I haven’t seen since High School. Mike, Cara, that’s you. We caught up on twenty years. A lot has happened to all of us as is expected. BUT, our stories were completely different. Personally, I was so intrigued – and quite jealous – about their paths and getting to where they are now.
However, where they are now isn’t my dream. Great people. Good lives. But not where I want to be. And there are places they were that I still want to be. Hearing them talk respectively about their past – even in a space of being happy they moved on – emphasized that those are things I still want to do. Neither of them regretted their past, per se’.
There’s a good chance I won’t regret chasing that either, despite that it’s countless years later than they did.
Spending time with people is how we learn about ourselves. Don’t miss the opportunity to check back in with “old” you and his / her people to see if that helps settle out a decision or sort out some confusion.
Red Lights
Pittsburgh was a big red flag, though.
I stayed up too late. I slept in too late. I missed a bunch of time I could have spent with my friend.
Those are deeply ingrained habits that I had thought being on the road was going to curb. It’s only been a day. They’ll go away, right?
If I don’t change those habits – among others – this trip will be a disaster.
Then It Hits
I left Pittsburgh and took to the road toward Chicago.
A couple hours into the drive, I pulled into a rest stop with a quick list of things to do to reset and feel in control (whatever that is).
- Grab some food
- Return some emails
- Do a little work
- Spend four hours panicking that I’ve just completely screwed up.
- Twenty minutes of yoga
OK, maybe number 4. wasn’t exactly planned, but it turns out I am human. Bummer to learn that right up front.
Keep this in mind: It’s going to hit you.
Whenever you make a HUGE change, you have NO IDEA how it’s going to turn out. Particularly when you’re not following someone else’s path. Particularly when you’re just making it up as you go.
All you know is what you know… and that’s pretty terrifying when you’re doing something you don’t know.
Whether we’re talking about starting your own business, changing careers, leaving a relationship, or even going on a vision quest, you’re going to wonder whether it’s the right thing.
You get over that panic – and if it does come back, it gets less and less until it just doesn’t come back.
