I’ve passed through seven countries, met a list of inspiring individuals and learned a multitude of life skills… but now it has come to an end, just six months into my expedition from London to Australia.
To put it bluntly, the reason why is COVID-19.
The coronavirus, COVID-19 which is sweeping across the planet has really put a stop to all tourism at the moment.
I was in Florence when it really started to affect the atmosphere in Italy. I was drinking with some American students who were being sent home by the US government just a few days later.
I attempted to push on in my travels, but an instinctual decision came over me and on the 9th March, I went to the airport and boarded the next available plane to London.
Luckily as the Italian government issued a country-wide quarantine that afternoon, preventing anyone from travelling in and out of the country and instructing everyone to stay at home for one month.
So now I’m back in the UK and I have time to reflect on my trip.
What have I learned?
Throughout my adolescent years, I enjoyed many things outside – That could include simple games, bushcraft experiences, cycling, fishing – you name it, I probably did it.
I also had a dream of travelling the world in an RV or similar, camping, watching the stars above and embracing Mother Nature’s fields of ether in all its glory.
And as in my previous post, find an opportunity to build a family.
As I grew older – by older I mean late teens and early 20s – I discovered a necessity for money and I developed a lack of respect for all things. With money I could do whatever I wanted.
Whatever.
I found myself on the stepladder to an IT specialist career and I enjoyed it. I found I had skills that many IT specialists didn’t have. I was extremely social.
I built upon this trademark. I would be the best Infrastructure/ 3rd line technician WITH the ability to provide excellent service via my social charisma.
I also had a football team. Meridian Athletic. Only a Sunday league team, but I had the ambitions to build an academy level team, providing a key opportunity to adults who were never scouted as a child.
I had the contacts in the footballing world, but I didn’t have the support behind me. They didn’t believe in my dream.
In reflection, amongst many other reasons for failure, I probably tried to accomplish too many great things at once.
Whatever the combination of failures, I unconsciously lost sight of my goals in life.
What was it all for?
A question I would ask myself on a daily basis.
Through the study of CBT, I now understand how much damage I was doing to myself, repetitively inserting doubt and destructive thoughts into my mind.
Actually, I could have fixed myself by finding and pursuing with desire, a new definite purpose.
Its a lot easier said than done, but actually, that is now what I’m doing.
My education taught me how to follow the career path, however, the books, games, and movies I enjoyed, showed me a life of adventure.
My education also taught me that I need a lot of money and support for such adventures.
My education was wrong.
I wrote the rest of this post as I sat on the bus, driving through the Dolomite mountains, and I will keep it in its present tense.
Currently, I am staring out of the window at vast mountains towering above all of the pettiness and standing in defiance against the harshness of the world.
They are beaten daily by the inconsistent snow, rain, wind, sun and so on… and yet they loom mightily high.
If one so desires, they can also see what the mountain sees. I can now relate to the mountains in many ways now and see them as an inspiration. They also have cloudy or foggy days, and yet those days will always come and go, leaving the powerful, beautiful views of landscapes stretching across miles and miles, courtesy of Gaia.
They know their mighty place at all times, even in the least visible or harshest conditions.
Through the power of determination, I have been on the road for six months and for the last 4 months lived off the €500 I earned in Hannover.
Since earning that money, I have; climbed mountains, stood on frozen lakes, driven an ATV through the Bavarian forests, ridden a horse through the Bavarian forests, learned to ski and snowboard in Slovakia and the Austrian Alps, all whilst discovering new walks of life, and I haven’t even left Europe.
This is proof that the fear of failure was holding me back all that time, that I spent building a career to afford this opportunity.
Instead of relying on others for support as I once did, I now carry my own and occasionally people support me, on their own free will.
I was capable of achieving my childhood dream the entire time!
And now I am living my dream, improving myself and building opportunities for the future.
Unfortunately, the Wuhan virus has moved the goalposts of my travel, though I am now back in the UK and I plan to; recuperate my travel costs, purchase new items that other travellers were using and are incredibly helpful – I’ll complete a separate post on that and plan more carefully another journey.
Are you living or working towards your dream?