Time to get real for a moment about a few things. This post is a bit of stream of consciousness, but I really want to capture some of things I'm feeling at this point in the journey.
* We have virtually NO free time! You'd think we would have loads of it!! I mean, neither of us have jobs. No "real world" responsibilities. No board meetings or presentations to prepare for. No school-wide fundraisers to help plan & execute. No Girl Scout meetings to plan. You catch my drift. We have seemingly not a care or worry in the world. We should be able to sit back & catch up on all those books we've wanted to read, podcasts we've wanted to listen to, family game sessions we're overdue to have. Wrong!
* Here's why we have no free time . . . The four of us are together ALL. THE. TIME. To be clear, that's exactly what we signed up for & fully want!! We're traveling the world for a year as a family in an effort to more deeply connect, experience and cherish all that we see together, and be stronger & better for it. We 100% want the time together.
* BUT . . . The reality is that when you spend that much time together as a family unit, it means it's challenging to get any "me" time for other things. Maybe a better way to explain it is this . . . Imagine your kids are literally within 2 feet of you for every waking moment of every single day. Now you get a sense for how it is hard to really be productive & get anything done! I exaggerate (only a bit) to make a point, but I think you get what I'm saying. Plus, we're on-the-go quite a bit & can't rely on a regular routine; this further challenges the ability to bake in regular time for individual tasks or interests.
* Doug & I are really supportive and understanding of the importance of nourishing & making time for all aspects of us as individuals . . . individual time (to workout, read, be creative, etc), time with our friends, time with colleagues, time just the two of us, family time with our Bohagirls, etc. We both acknowledge that we are our best selves when we can make time to nourish every aspect of ourselves. I feel very fortunate that we both get that & value that. And up to this point, we've been really good at it. We just have to work a bit harder at that on the road.
* So what am I stressing about? Before I answer, it's worth noting that I'm a textbook type A personality. I love being productive. I love organizing things, devising a plan, managing & tackling said plan and knocking it off the list. Patience is not my best virtue (I'm working on it). Being productive makes me tick and the satisfaction of achieving something fuels me forward. On this amazing journey, I'm realizing early on that I need to reframe what being productive means because the reality is I just won't be productive in the ways that I'm accustomed to being in the previous personal & professional chapters of my life. And I have to slowly get used to that, embrace it and learn from that new reality. And find different ways to get that same sense of fulfillment, achievement and excitement. But at the same time, embrace that it's OK to just let go and be present in the moment, even the seemingly "non-productive" ones! :) Every day I'm learning & trying more, and will continue to. And this whole year is about being productive & successful at being present, really present, in where we are, who we're with, and what surrounds us.
* Side-note: Doug is totally a type B personality in many ways. He's far more laid back, less stressed and flexible. We are the yin to each other's yang when we need it most, and I'm incredibly grateful he's my partner in this crazy journey of life, especially in this year of it :)
* But seriously, why am I stressing? Weighing on me at the moment is the fact that - aside from a few long-haul flights - we have nothing booked in the back half of our year of travels! No lodging, no activities, no domestic flights within each country, etc. We know the countries and rough dates, but have quite a bit of work ahead of us to tease out all the details of our travel. Perfect example (which is occupying my mind space at the moment) is the South East Asia stint of our itinerary. We fly into Bangkok, Thailand on November 23 and fly out of Bangkok on January 11 (for Malaysia). We know we intend to hit up parts of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and possibly Myanmar during those 7 weeks. But we still need to map out the specifics of exact towns/cities/islands, travel logistics (flights/trains/buses/private car hire), lodging, excursions, etc. The scheming, planning, researching, etc. is all up my/our alley (and satisfies my productivity yearning), but the stress factor comes to play because of my very first point . . . We have such little free time! Reality is that each night after the girls go to bed (which lately is close to 9:30pm), we pound the pavement online for a few hours, often not hitting the sac ourselves until midnight or 1:00am. It's the only way we can make progress & check some things off our list.
* So there you have it. It's the tension of needing to plan a big chunk of travel imminently, and with each passing hour or day of little progress, it weighs on me even more. It's a vicious cycle . . . more to do staring me/us down, and increasingly less time to do it. I know it will all get done - we won't be sleeping on the streets of Bangkok or Hoi An or anything - but I'm anxious to get going and see real progress/productivity in our planning.
* I'm happy to report that in just the last day or two we've started to make tangible progress on the SE Asia travel. Key difference is that we've carved out extra time during the day while the girls play/read (or watch their latest obsession, the Amazon Prime Original Just Add Magic) which has helped us jump start a few things.
* We knew we'd need to plan chunks of our year on-the-go, but we're learning that researching, planning & implementing those logistics as we move is a tad more challenging than we thought it might be. We'll get there. No doubt. I just wanted to capture this dynamic of the trip at this particular moment. I also realize I'm writing this from a moment of gratitude doing this in our lives right now.
Now back to travel planning . . . :)
p.s. Cover photo was taken as I write this blog post, haha
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