Aka: What if I don’t reach my travel goal?
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.” John Ruskin
I write this in the kitchen/dining area of a tiny-for-Canada but spacious-for-Europe third-floor apartment in Barcelona.
The day is dreary and almost demands an umbrella. After a couple of hours on the covered balcony, clicking away on the laptop, the number of goosebump stalactites on my forearms and ankles is weighing me down. I’ve decided to hole up inside.
The “cupboard dry setting” (armario de secado) setting on the dryer is on strike, so clothing is hung on a makeshift drying rack, otherwise known as the clothing ladder, from beside the bed. I’ve hiked the wall-mounted heating unit to a glorious 25 degrees so we can dry our skivvies before we need to pack. I balance my laptop on the kidney-shaped coffee table and peel off a sweater.
After a few days at the ISE convention, we have a couple of free days. I scanned online for a car rental. We could fork out $50 and drive two hours north through Catalonia to Andorra, a small country that hasn’t yet been checked off my Sixty by Sixty completion list. Or we could walk and metro around Barcelona some more, adding Eusebi Güell-conceived and Antoni Gaudi-designed Park Güell to our memories.
Andorra. I get it if you’ve never heard of it. It’s an area of 467.63 km2 that only gained sovereignty in 1993. A country that’s roughly the same size as New York City, with a measly 88,941 individuals who call it home.
Back to my inner debate
To go or not to go…To up my number of countries visited to 46…or not?
Mark’s mythical doppelganger chimes in, vibrating my cranial cavity. (I swear I’m not hallucinating or over-indulging on cough meds. I know he’s not in there. He just keeps me accountable even when he’s not physically around. Okay, now I DO sound cray cray.)
I hear his oft-asked question, “What is more important – quantity or quality?”
Let’s grab my logical thinking cap and we can discuss the pluses and minuses to renting a car and adding another country to the list of “has been”.
Pros
- One country closer to my goal (I’d only have 14 left…)
- Trees I haven’t seen, mountains I haven’t climbed (okay, ascended in a vehicle), snacks I haven’t ingested, faces I haven’t memorized.
- a story for you! (Yes, it’s all about you, my Friend.)
Cons
- A long day of travel. Am I getting too ̶o̶l̶d̶ sensible to spend more time playing backseat driver rather than hanging out on my balcony tipping a wineglass to my lips (even in rainy 15-degree weather)?
- How much of the country would we actually see in a day? Yeah, yeah: Quantity over quality.
- Money.
- Time.
I’m always more transparent than toilet-paper-in-Canadian-public-schools with you, so here’s the deal.
The real, underlying issue is more than just an advantages/drawbacks list surrounding a day trip to Andorra.
Here’s the straight-up spittin’ facts
My gut, punching out at my heart and my brain, wants to know: What if I don’t reach my goal?
- Will I be less of a person if I’m only 53 by Sixty?
- Will my luggage implode and
- my dignity and my will to live shrivel to the size of a money belt?
- Will you stop reading my blogs?
What the pros say
“Often, when we set ourselves up with big, audacious goals, we set ourselves up for failure,” points out Jordan Grumet, MD. He believes that process-oriented goals are less toxic for us and help us to avoid feelings of personal failure.
Sure, sure, Jordan. But I’ve set this goal. What do you have to say to that?
“Ultimately, goals can be helpful, but they need to be balanced with a focus on the process. This way, you can find fulfillment in both the pursuit and the journey, not just the end result,” Jordan Grumet, MD
Okay, okay. The Process.
Even if I don’t reach sixty countries by the time I blow out sixty candles, I’ll still be morphed for the better from all my experiences. I’ll be richer in memories, won’t I? I’ll have seen, smelled, heard, tasted, and touched more of the world. Not to mention, I’ll be able to point out Andorra on the world map.
Just like the quote from John Ruskin at the start of this blog,
“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.”
Even if I fail…I’m becoming…
So, did we go or not?!?
More on whether we went to Andorra or not coming in a future blog. But just so you won’t be held hostage for a month needing to know, here’s a little hint.
