“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.” ~Author Unknown
Want to know what my biggest fear was when I road my motorcycle from Seattle to Panama? It wasn’t the Mexican police. Or having my motorcycle stolen. It wasn’t being kidnapped (which most everyone I knew believed would happen to me). It was simply whether I’d be able to find a flat place to park the bike: at my hotel, at a rest stop or at a gas station. This is what kept me up at night while preparing for the trip. This was my “pebble.”
I had envisioned the bike tumbling over when the kickstand sank in the dirt. Or worse, that it would roll down a hill and tip over. Of all the things for me to focus on, I picked a tiny detail and let it petrify me.
I’m not sure that I’m unique. I think we all tend to enlarge potential issues when thinking about our travel plans, particularly if we’re planning something adventurous, off-the-beaten path. What if, what if, what if. Rarely are these what if’s insurmountable.
It’s often the little things that we sweat over which forces our travels to take on mythic proportions. But the reality is that we just need to put one foot in front of the other and make our way past each of those pebbles. And we all have different pebbles that block us. It could be finances, our job or, so often with women, the fear of whether we will be safe during a trip.
If you’re stumbling over pebbles and you can’t get up, consider a systematic approach to making your travel plans.
Visualize
Create the mental space to visualize your journey in all of its outrageous possibilities. What is your wildest dream destination or adventure? If you had all the money in the world and no limits to hold you back, where would you go? What would you do? How would you spend your precious travel time on this fantastic planet? Don’t let the what if’s get in the way.
I’m constantly keeping notebooks and pages of ideas whether it has to do with my travels, business or lifestyle. I will often come across a piece of paper, tucked in the back of a drawer or folded up in an old daybag. Written years earlier, I’m always amazed at how many of these “dreams” will have come true since writing these ideas down.
Don’t dismiss the power of putting pen to paper when it comes to making something happen for yourself.
The Obstacles
Make another list of your personal “pebbles.” What are those small items that you believe will get in the way of making your dream happen? Is it a family member’s voice in the back of your mind that says, “You can’t go there as a woman!” Is it your boss who won’t let you have time off? Is it because you feel you couldn’t possibly save enough cash for your trip?
Whatever the obstacle, when you make this journey your single point of concentration, you’ll find that nothing will stop you and the universe will make way for everything to work in your favor.
Get Planning
Of course, nothing will happen without a little elbow grease on your part. You can’t exactly leave everything in the hands of the universe.
While you’ve got that pen and paper out, start making a list of all the little (and often VERY fun) things you’ll need to do to set the wheels in motion. Search for flights. Window shop for your favorite travel items. Make a packing list. Start setting things aside that you’ll want to carry with you. Start your research and buy books about your destination.
Rather than making a mountain out of those pebbles, start chipping away at them one by one. Breaking them down into small chunks will make them easier to step over or brush aside.
What do you to get past the pebbles?
Travel Well!
Beth
Related links:
RTW and Long Term Travel
Unsafe Travels in Uncertain Times
What Constitutes a Dangerous Destination?
A Monk Walks onto a Plane
Meg Noble Peterson says
Oh, Beth, how right you are! How bogged down we can get with details and minutiae that only trip us up and cause us to lose sight of the big picture. Funny that you should write this, for just this week I took all the stones, large and small (yes, some pebbles as well) that I have assiduously collected over the past forty years and put them in my garden, surrounding a new birdbath and rimmed with flowers. I had collected these treasures from the Selway-Bitterroot, from Israel, from Whidbey Island, and from every country I’ve visited. What a monumental collection it is! And now it’s back in the earth from whence it came. The only ones still on my mantel piece are the humongous ones I lugged in my pack–to the chagrin of my companions. Wish I’d read your entry first…I’d have taken a photograph! Thanks, Meg
Beth says
So you quite literally stumble over pebbles! How funny!
I know you don’t really let things trip you up, Meg. You’re the most intrepid traveler I know!
Beth Shepherd says
I think we let ourselves be trapped by the details because we imagine the “pebbles” are easier to control…that somehow if we can think through every permutation of what could happen, we can influence the outcome. The reality is that we can predict so very little and as they say, “best laid plans…”.
p.s. to Meg…would LOVE to see a picture of your birdbath and your collection of treasures!