Life lessons from the lands Down Under
A few years ago I spent November (yes, the whole month) in Australia and New Zealand. It was the trip of my life and, like all great trips, it taught me many things.
Lesson One: Turn pain into gain. She had been talking about going to Australia forever, but she kept putting it off. He was so far away, so expensive, etc. But about a year ago, I had what I thought was a good relationship that caught fire. There I was, having a pity party, bummed out about being 41 years old and single, wah, wah. Well, you can sit down and have a pity party or you can do something big. I chose something big and booked the trip to Australia. Turn your pain into gain, life is what you make of it.
Lesson two: overcome your fears and excuses. I’d gotten awfully good at explaining why I couldn’t make the trip. My main excuse was that I couldn’t leave my business for a month. This is a message to all of us: the world goes on without us. I did my best to let my clients know what was going on, set the autoresponder on my email, and left. Did I miss some opportunities? Maybe. Did my business collapse? Hell no! And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather listen to a speaker who was taking risks and having adventures than one who was just playing it safe. If there is something in your life that you want, you must first overcome your own fears and excuses. What excuses have you been making?
Lesson Three: Give up your illusions of control. Write Como del mundo, this is for you! We go to great lengths to make sure everything turns out well (well being, of course, how WE want it to turn out) and cause ourselves a lot of stress in the process. I find traveling particularly stressful because so many things are out of my control. I worry about missing connections, losing luggage, getting lost, etc. But for my trip to the Lands Down Under, I left all of that behind. I signed up for a group tour and the tour company took care of everything. I went to the airport when our guide took us and I knew that if I missed the flight, we would all do it and the trip would be adjusted. I handed over all control (which I never actually have anyway) to our tour guide and had a great time. I thought giving up control would really bother me, but it ended up being a huge relief, making the vacation even better.
Lesson four: don’t be so damn critical! One of the disadvantages of traveling in a group is that you are with a group. I am used to traveling alone; doing what I want when I want to do it. You can’t do this when you’re on a group tour: you go where the group goes when the group goes. One of the first stops that didn’t excite me much was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Museum in Alice Springs. All I could think was-“BORING! Can’t we go see something cool?” But I had no other choice, so I went in. I was soon fascinated: a short video made me cry! The RFDS exists because of Australia’s vast red center: the Outback. It’s a huge area (Australia is about the same size as the US and most people cluster near the coast) with vast, vast, vast expanses of nothing. I mean nothing. However, there are some people out there, and from time to time they need medical attention. So they radio RFDS and the Docs get on a plane and fly off. It’s quite amazing and seeing the grateful people and caring doctors in the video was really moving. And the service is funded by public donations. Wow, the things we take for granted.
You think I would have learned my lesson and been open to the sites on the trip (after all, the tour company travels regularly, they may know a bit more about this part of the world than I do!). But no, when it came time to get away from my loves (art museums and shopping) to see the glowworm caves, again I was not thrilled. I mean, the caves are dark and wet and sticky and the worms are, well, worms! But I was with the group. So we went down to the cave and got on a boat in total darkness. Our guides moved away and we were floating in the cool, damp darkness and my clothes were getting wet, and I didn’t like it SO MUCH. So I looked up. The ceiling of the cave was covered in millions of tiny blue-white lights, like a galaxy full of stars (the fireflies!). It was impressive and amazing. A place I will never forget.
What experiences are you excluding because you “know” you won’t like them? Food you don’t taste, people you don’t get to know, places you never visit. Keeping an open mind is much more difficult than we think.
Lesson five: don’t become a sheep. In New Zealand there are many more sheep than there are people (4 million people, 48 million sheep!). I think there are more sheep than people here, too, more people who would rather follow the herd than be themselves. I can’t think of any other reason why we care what Britney Spears does or watch something called “Dancing with the Stars.” I was the only person on the tour who ventured away from the group. I spent a day in fascination at the Old Melbourne Gaol looking at the death masks and gallows where Australian outlaw Ned Kelly was hanged. I went to museums and saw aboriginal art and had a fantastic day on my own. Just because everyone else is doing something doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you. Only you know what really speaks to the heart and what truly brings you joy, but you have to be brave enough to 1.) discover it and 2.) pursue it. Stop watching Dancing with the Stars and see the real stars in the glorious night sky or put on your own dancing shoes. Life is short, live it!
