Traveling, The Reset Switch from Everyday Life

Growing up my family didn’t travel much. It was almost exclusively for visiting family: grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle, cousins, family reunions. Even as an adult, I didn’t travel much. A church mission trip took me to Louisiana for almost two years plus three months in Mississippi, but that was my extent of getting far from home. I wasn’t so much there for my own fun, I was there out of a sense of duty and there was almost no time for anything except what I was sent there for.  Regardless, that was more getting out than I was used to. Once I returned home, I had no clue how to afford a good vacation, where I would want to go, and it definitely wasn’t something I was used to. Being somewhere new and unknown was scary and not in a thrilling way.  My ex-wife and I had taken a vacation to Kansas City, but in the end that is really not that far away though it seemed like a big step away from home at the time.  While you can make your own adventure, there is something to be said for really getting away by hours and lots of miles.

Changes

Then I met my current wife. We have done a bit of traveling, and in comparison, tons more.  It has added value to my life over being so content with my native surroundings. Her and I have traveled to Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Branson, and Austin. For me, that’s just getting my feet warmed up. I started following a Facebook group a couple years back that is focused on traveling and pictures of destinations. There are so many views and sights in this world that re-charge a person’s emotional battery. My once narrow and sheltered view of the world has expanded and for the better.  I’m not sure what exactly made me change my mind on traveling.  Maybe older age where I realize I’m not enjoying as much as I ought to be.  Maybe a better understanding of how to afford it and a wife that was able to help Las Vegas happen.  Maybe the ease of booking everything about our Vegas vacation.  Who knows?  And, in the end, does it matter?  The change has been good and I find myself wanting to travel lots.  Travel to see new things.  Travel for new experiences.  Traveling away from home and experiencing “new” is refreshing.  It takes one’s attention away from everyday life and resets the tunnel vision.  Removes the worries, even if temporary, and by doing so may help refocus attention to where it needs to be.  By getting you out of your normal environment it may event help appreciate the little things or the people around you.  I know seeing my kids after returning always invoked a lot of emotion.  As if a string got tugged, and the appreciation, concern, and love for them filled me well beyond the normal amount.  Traveling can have its hiccups occasionally, but with how much good comes of it, why resist something so good?  I don’t know either.