It is incredible what a trip across the country will do for spicing up your life! Just look at the amazing transformation we have made in just 4 short months!
Prior to selling all of our worldly possessions and embarking upon our “dream trip”, our days looked something like this:
- Wake up
- Gary goes to work
- Deb goes into her home office to work in front of her computer
- Deb goes grocery shopping
- Gary comes home from work
- Deb cooks dinner
- Deb and Gary eat dinner
- Deb and Gary have a couple glasses of wine
- Deb and Gary watch CSI, CSI Miami or CSI NY
- Deb and Gary go to bed around 11:00.
* Repeated Monday- Friday. Weekends were up for grabs.
Then, Gary and I decided to live life outside the box (well, actually inside it) and voila, this is how it looks now:
- Wake up
- Gary goes to work
- Deb goes into her home office (ie: kitchen table) to work in front of her computer
- Deb goes grocery shopping and stocks up for the week whenever she has a car
- Gary comes home from work
- Deb cooks dinner
- Deb and Gary eat dinner
- Deb and Gary have a couple glasses of wine
- Deb and Gary watch whatever the TV reception can get
- Deb and Gary go to bed around 11:00.
* Repeated Monday- Friday. Weekends are up for grabs.
**Added bonus: Hours of hooking and unhooking wires, cords, hoses and cables every time we move.
I never thought it would be possible, but somehow we have settled into our “whirlwind” cross-country trip in such a way that it sneakily resembles our lives before we hit the road: mundane, routine and ordinary. Are we such creatures of habit that we can turn something so extraordinary into ordinary?!
How did this happen? Is it our natural instinct to create routine and familiarity in our lives? As exciting as cross-country travel could be, has consistency and predictability become more of a priority? Although Gary and I are in the 4th month of our trip, over 1/3 complete, we are still waiting for the trip to begin. We are waiting patiently to realize the vision we had created prior to hitting the open road. Are dreams always sweeter than reality?
Please do not hear this as a complaint. It is merely a simple but mind-boggling observation. The trip has actually been an interesting collection of experiences and exposures. And I am fully aware that it is within my own control to make this trip, or my life, regardless of what I am doing, extraordinary. I just have to choose to do so! But for now, it is a rainy Saturday, and I am going to join my hubby, who is taking an afternoon nap.
Pingback: Turning the Extraordinary into Ordinary : Stephen Shapiro