MAY THE WIND UNDER YOUR WINGS BEAR YOU WHERE THE SUN SAILS AND THE MOON WALKS. – Tolkien
We had the most amazing send off for our big road trip a couple of Saturdays ago. My parents flew in from Florida and co-hosted a camping- and fishing-themed send off for us with our neighbor besties Eric and Liz. It was the perfect way to embark on this great adventure and reminded us how lucky we are to have such a wonderful community in San Francisco.
Home Sweet Home
Well it’s official, we are off on the grand adventure. On Tuesday, we moved out of our apartment, took the final boxes and Ryan’s road bike to the storage unit, said farewell to a few friends who wanted to send us off, and we drove out of San Francisco. Not before stopping at Comcast to return our modem of course. No matter how romantic I’d like to make this trip, there are the practicalities of life to deal with. Like dropping off the modem.
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me – Walt Whitman
We are going on a road trip. For six months. We’ve taken leave from work, given our landlord notice and done our best to purge all of our extra belongings. And so begins an expedition of sorts, an odyssey to explore the West, see where an unstructured life will take us, and give ourselves time to exhale and relax and just be. Here’s why.
Why Not?! It seems like a no brainer – if you find yourself with the opportunity to take a sabbatical and put some wanderlusting into action, why on Earth wouldn’t you? Well, yes. But it’s so much easier dreamt than done. We, like most of you, have for years heard about those people who have cast aside their responsibilities, sold their belongings and quit their jobs and traveled the world. And we always thought wow, I wish we could do that. How lucky those people must be. And then it hit me about a year ago. Why not? For better or worse, I have always been someone who thought: if he can do it, I can do it. And so we started to really think about it and to think about what we would want to do with some time off.
Explore.
People often talk about living life to the fullest. It’s one of those phrases thrown around casually and nonchalantly, a generic mantra to live by. I have lately been thinking about what it really means to have a life fully lived. Perhaps it’s the new year, or the alarming number of friends who have loved ones with newly discovered illnesses this month, or just a time of transition for me. Whatever it is, it’s been weighing on my mind.
APPROACH THE NEW YEAR WITH RESOLVE TO FIND THE OPPORTUNITIES HIDDEN IN EACH NEW DAY. – Michael Josephson
I love this quote. It embodies the fresh start that comes with each new year. Many people hate New Year’s resolutions, and the typical half-hearted resolutions probably are something to loathe. But with the start of the new year comes the opportunity to reassess. To stop and think about the past year, the lessons learned, opportunities taken, opportunities missed, happiness, successes, regrets. And to evaluate how we’ll take these into the new year. Rather than making resolutions, I like to take some time to simply be more mindful. Think about the person that I want to be, where I am currently, and what I can do to continue to grow, learn and thrive. It’s a good practice to periodically take the time to reevaluate our trajectory, and why not start with the beginning of the year?
One of my favorite things about San Fransisco is how many great places are close by for quick get aways! This year for our anniversary we hopped over the bridge for a weekend getaway at Cavallo Point, a beautiful hotel tucked away right under the Golden Gate Bridge just north of the City. The hotel is housed in an old army post called Fort Baker and the buildings were built in the early 1900’s, and renovated and reopened as Cavallo Point resort in 2008.
To sleep, perchance to dream.
FOMO is the fear of missing out. FOMOOS is the fear of missing out on sleep! Ok, I made it up. But FOMOOS is what I have. FOMO is a scourge that has afflicted much of my generation and certainly the next generation. When photos and recaps of activities are splashed all over social media at every minute of every day, everyone knows what everyone else is doing all the time. And we get envious of other people having fun all the time (or at least looking like it on social media) and leaving us out. My hubs has FOMO real bad. If you invite him out to dinner or after work drinks or a party or a weekend getaway, he’s probably going to go no matter how jam packed his schedule is. I, on the other hand, am increasingly concerned about how my overpacked schedule is affecting how much sleep I’m able to get. I mused here about how busy we have all become and how much we focus on filling up every minute of every day. One consequence of that way of living is that I start to worry way in advance about how tired I know I’ll be, and it stresses me out. Perhaps this emphasis on sleep is because I’m getting older, or perhaps it’s because I’ve started to focus on living purposefully and with intention, or perhaps it just because I’m hitting my lack of sleep limit?
One thing I do know is that we need sleep! And FOMOOS is a real thing, not just about being a bit lazy. I recently listened to an amazing TED Radio Hour episode that focused on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, one of which is sleep. You know I love TED Radio Hour – I shared here some of my favorite podcast stations and this one one of them. This episode in particular was illuminating. I’ve never thought much about why we need sleep or what sleep does for our bodies, our psyche, our emotions. I’ve spent a LOT of time trying to figure out to how operate on less sleep. For years I have made a New Year’s resolution to train myself to rely on less sleep. I’m not sure that’s possible and I’m quite sure it’s not healthy. I’ve never been someone who needs a huge amount of sleep – never slept in until noon or absolutely panicked if I couldn’t get a full 8 hours a night. But I have realized that I cannot fully function or be the best version of myself on only 4-5 hours a night, and I’m not alone.
BEWARE THE BARRENNESS OF A BUSY LIFE. –Socrates
I am DAMN good at being busy and looking like I love it. I am busy with a big smile on my face. But wow am I tired. All the time. Tired on the weekends. Tired when it’s slow at work. Extra tired when it’s nuts at work. Tired at yoga (if I can find the time to go to yoga). Too busy and too tired. Being busy means something different for everyone, but here’s how the dictionary defines it: Busyness: the quality or condition of being busy; lively but meaningless activity. Ouch, that last part hurt a little. Hits a bit too close to home.
RUNNING NEVER GETS EASIER; YOU JUST GET STRONGER.
I didn’t grow up running, and didn’t start really until I was in my mid-twenties. But one day I decided I’d start running, and after hours and hours and miles and miles of training, I’ve finally become a runner. I sign up for races from time to time, to keep myself running because I certainly get burned out.
© 2024 The Pursuit of Life. All rights reserved.
Theme by Anders Norén.