I was recently asked to write an article about travelling to Mexico for a travel website I work for periodically. This got me thinking about how little time we take to sit back and smell the roses so to speak. As I outlined the benefits of traveling to this little piece of heaven know as the Riviera Maya, I was struck with the thought “how long has it been since I just dropped out?”
We are trained to not indulge in spontaneous acts of travel that can be construed as selfish by society’s standards of responsible behavior. Or when we do travel, we expect to plan extensively for the great once a year-I’m free from my job epic vacation. We don’t normally just jump into some form of plane, train, or automobile and go.
Now everyone knows someone who is capable of this level of spontaneity, but often they are described as “free spirits” if the more conservative are being kind or outright “crazy” if they are not. I find it interesting the level of judgment that people can experience from their family and peers with something as simple as a vacation destination. Often the precious time we have for experiences outside of our normal lives and our regular work days is taken up by family obligations that involve travel.
Don’t get me wrong, it is important to remain connected to friends and family and often that involves being in the same physical room as everyone on a holiday or at a wedding, but the frenetic life many now lead has meant the loss of something too. Adventure, spontaneity, new experience that will expand our horizons and allow us to grow seem to be farther away in the new millenium.
This realization anyway has me mindful I should be living more in the now…time to get on a … and go….