Born to run (or at least wander)?

Most of us, those who have the luxury to do so that is, experience times when we question the direction our life is going in. Are we doing the right thing? In the right place? With the right people?

Always out of reach?

These have been things very much on our mind of late. Much of this is down to the fact that we have that aforementioned luxury to ponder about them. 

In other words, owing to our rather simple, independent lifestyle over the last number of years, we've managed to live relatively cheaply and keep a little balance of cash in reserve. 

Enough, that is, to make us feel like we can take the time to discover something in life that we find truly enjoyable/fulfilling, yet not enough, contradictory as it may seem, to allow us take some risks that may provide the key to the former.

One of the things we've discovered we like doing, at this stage of our life in any case, is moving; seeing new places, exploring, observing how people live in different locations. The reality is that since 2008 this is how, more or less, our life has been.

We even put the 20 months we spent working full time in Belfast into this category. This was because the city was new to us, somewhat different from the places in Ireland we were used to, with that novelty taking some time to wear off. 

Also, as our job was poorly paid, trying to put money aside was a challenge, something that we took on with gusto in many ways (well, we had no other choice). 

Despite that, and another reason our Belfast period can go onto the adventure list, we went overseas for holidays on a number of occasions during our stint there — as many times (and for longer) than our 23 years pre-2008.

So, it seems our first global adventure between 2008 and 2009 released the wanderer in us. Before then, an easy(ish) life in an Ireland that appeared awash with opportunities (or so we were told) coupled with decent enough full-time employment at a young age in a professional field that we generally liked, had kept this wanderlust at bay. 

Oh, how things change! Now, especially in the absence of a fulfilling, full-time, well-paid job (if there is such a thing for us), there exists an insatiable desire to move after a time in one place.

Yes, it is true we willingly returned to Bogotá, a city we had already lived in, on and off, for over 18 months, after a three-month spell back in Ireland last year. 

Yet, at a loose end in our birthplace*, Bogotá still seemed an adventure and, paradoxically in a way, a place where we had built up a good number of professional contacts, somewhere we knew we could find some work, sporadic as it may be. And we were (are) slightly concerned about money. Who isn't?

The world is our oyster http://bit.ly/1icklNw?

Now, however, not even three months back, those wanderlust feelings have returned. Yet they are tempered by concerns for the future; our professional progression, our financial well-being. You might call it adventurism constrained by conservatism, an old head on young(ish) shoulders.

Our background has a lot to do with that; the old settling down mentality and way of life of which most of us are products. Find a partner, build a house, start a family, and, hopefully, have a steady job. 

The last (and for us, the first also) of those is quite difficult to pin down these days, which makes the others more difficult to achieve (especially so here in Colombia where the link between money and women runs deep**). That is, of course, if we wanted to settle at this moment in time.

In any case, history is full of explorers and adventurers, those who shunned that settling-down life. It's because of such men (and the odd few women) that the world is how we know it today — for good and bad. 

OK, there aren't too many places left to be newly discovered on this planet, in a land context anyway, but that doesn't stop the personal human desire to explore and to see new things.

So if we could just make a living out of a nomadic lifestyle that should assuage our conservative side and allow us wander (and wonder) worry-free. 

At least for a time anyway; this might be just a phase we're going through. That fanciful million dollar contract might make us stop and think.

_______________________
*For more on that somewhat 'restless' state back home see both Any which way but lose... and No country for young men.

**Our début post, Wages of love, touched on this.

The path not taken

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

'Sail away' as Enya once advised.

An inspiring quote for many that, from the American author Mark Twain. Of course, it does make a lot of sense in a number of ways, encouraging you to take on challenges and test yourself. 

However, the fact that you may be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do in your life over the ones you did is pretty much unavoidable really. Most people, if not all of us, will have doubts, questions and in some cases even regrets over things we could have done but didn’t. There will always be a path we didn’t take. 

Life is all about decisions – choosing one thing over another, or not as the case may be. Throw in the fact that we only live once – well, as far as most of us believe and are aware that is the case – and it becomes extremely difficult to do everything that we desire.

The most important part in Twain’s words, from our point of view, is “Sail away from the safe harbour.” In other words, get out of your comfort zone when and where possible. If you feel your life has become stale and staid, that’s usually a good sign to make a fresh break, spice things up so to speak. Obviously for some this should be relatively easier to do than others. 

For example, those who are married or have long-term partners must balance their own desires with those of their significant other if they are serious about their relationship. 

The freedom you might have to “Explore. Dream. Discover” becomes even more compromised if you have children. Much of your responsibility becomes tied up in their development and desires – at least it should.

"Which way, 'Wrong Way'?"

Even without such ‘constraints’ on your ability to sail away or opt for a new direction, it can be difficult to leave behind your current life, even if it’s not exactly making you happy or giving you a sense of fulfilment. Very often a human being’s adventurous spirit is hindered by his/her fear of the unknown. 

It’s in this scenario where Twain’s quote comes into play. This is when you must ask yourself if the path you’re currently on is really the right one. 

Whatever about choosing one thing over another where the correct option doesn’t seem that obvious or indeed there isn’t a clear right or wrong choice, sticking with something that isn’t delivering you happiness, never mind not challenging you, is unwise to say the least. 

At times all it may require is a short break from a certain way of life or location – it doesn’t always have to be a complete transformation – to get you back on track, re-energise you so to speak. Even in the most restrictive of situations, dire even, there is an out, a new way.

Some may argue that financial constraints can make changing the course of your life difficult. Yes, money or the lack of it can play a part. 

For somebody who might be struggling to know where their next meal is coming from, seeing a way out of such a life can be difficult to envisage. Plus, from a Western, ‘developed world’ perspective (or minority-world view as some countries outside of this group quite accurately term it) quite literally ‘sailing away’ can be much easier than for those in the ‘developing world’.

'Wrong way, turn back.'

But we can, all of us, strive for change or look to alter the direction of our life, if that is our want. If you know deep inside that the path you’re currently on is not the right one for you and you have the ability to change it, then the plan should be to seek to do just that. 

To “throw off the bowlines” as Twain puts it. Eliminating regrets from your life may be difficult to achieve, but at the very least you can try to reduce them.


* For related articles see: "'Wrong Way' begins" http://bit.ly/VtvYn1 & 'Taking stock' http://bit.ly/YE0wQo