Which one am I living? Sometimes it feels like a vacation and sometimes it feels like real life. What I am slowly learning is that to live somewhere in the middle without differentiating the two can be a dangerous game.
One day, I wake up and life is glorious and all I want to do is explore Atlanta, frolic in the forests of Georgia and plan weekend adventures for Ryan and I. The next minute I am struck by the ever present truth that life is not one big vacation. Living a giant vacation isn’t satisfying or fulfilling, and it most certainly is not sustainable when you’ve got a small chunk of cash and nearly no income. Doh.
Sometime last week I clued into the fact that I have been treating my time in Georgia as if it were a vacation. As if it were a leisurely 6 month adventure, as I have done before. Ryan was annoyed with me because, once again, I was going on and on about all the fun things we could do. This time, I was keeping it local and in the next few months, but I still wasn’t getting it. For Ryan, this time spent in Atlanta is an “8 month sprint”. It’s a whirlwind of working, learning, and perhaps a small amount of adventuring on the side. For me, I was thinking about it as a whole lot of adventuring, perhaps a little bit of learning, and very minimal working.
But is that what I came to Georgia for? To have an adventure? To spend each day exploring Atlanta without making any progress on my goals or dreams? Without pushing myself to finally live the life I want to live? If the reason I came to Georgia was to simply have an adventure, why would I not go somewhere more exotic than the dirty south of the US? Great question. I have since then asked myself exactly that, and the verdict I reached was that I don’t really know what I want out my time in Georgia.
So, I began thinking deeper. What do I want out Georgia? And, more importantly, what do I want out life? It struck me that this isn’t something I have thought about much lately. Between the crazy move between countries and a 4,000 km solo road trip, I have somehow pushed the future out of my mind. I had been so focused on what was next after Canmore, and then getting there, that I haven’t thought much past that.
I began thinking. I began thinking about my dreams to teach yoga. My dreams to finally publish a novel. My dreams to monetize the podcast and share my adventures with people around the globe. My dreams to have complete freedom and control over my life. I don’t want to be locked down to a cubicle or to any type of job. I don’t want anyone but me telling me what to do. I want to make money doing the things that I love, and I want to have the time and money to travel the world endlessly.
Now, how do I get there? Well, my time in Georgia is as good as any time to start figuring out how I’m going to achieve my dreams of being a successful entrepreneur.
Vacation vs. Real life. I think this adventure just became real life.