The 3 Words That Changed Everything

Three little words, which individually I usually love, but when used together, change the game.

No. Travel. Rights.

That’s right. I’m currently grounded in Australia awaiting a visa outcome, and my bridging visa doesn’t allow me to travel. Worst case scenario, this could go on for 18 months. And to say that it’s unsettling is a colossal understatement. ‘No travel rights’ strikes fear into my wanderlusting heart.

This situation has made me strongly crave – even three weeks in – adventure and exploration.

Yet, knowing I have to satisfy the inner explorer in Brisbane’s inner suburbs rather than Innsbruck, India, the Inner Hebrides – I could go on – I’ve set about seeing what more there is to life right where I am.

Okay, let’s face it. There are worse places to be ‘stuck’. Exhibit A…

In my recent post Adventure Is A State Of Mind, I talked about the magic in the miniscule. I stand by what I said. Story doesn’t have to be big and epic and insane to be worthy of being told. You can create a story from a single grain of an experience or idea.

But what if you want bigger, better, bolder?

Good news. You can create a story of epic proportions. If you dare.

Daring is easier when you travel. You’re already out of your comfort zone, so being out of your comfort zone becomes the new comfort zone.

When I think of what I love about taking a trip, it comes down to this:

• imagination, dreaming up possibilities, investigating options, creativity
• growth and learning, discovering what I never knew existed
• curiosity, intrigue, something of the new and exotic, cultures
• meeting cool people
• a sense of achievement and freedom combined

From booking flights to stepping on board that aircraft, from Googling a country I’ve never heard of to looking up a beach bure on AirBnB, I feel independent, bold, in charge of my choices. When the date rolls around and I embark on the trip, I get to be fully myself, fully engaged, fully expressed. In short, alive.

What’s stopping us having that right where we are?

Perceived obligations. Physical stuff. Certain people. But really…? Nothing.

Right where I am, I can dream up an adventure that taps into all those states. It has to be something bigger than signing up for samba drumming or taking a tour round a new part of town. We have to dare, even if we have to dare on our doorstep.

This could look like:

• Publishing a book – just about the biggest self-discovery journey you can have from your living room
• Building a business from scratch with no safety net
• Hosting an event or party of magnificent proportions
• Starting a social enterprise
• Opening your home to other cultures by having visitors from overseas
• Taking up a physical challenge – perhaps, like me, you take on mental challenges much more readily than physical ones, so why not go epic here and sign up for a triathlon or marathon?
• Having an overnight affair with a difference and going without your home comforts – talk to my friends Mick and Nicole at The Adventure Group
• Speaking in front of an audience for the first time ever
• Travelling or roadtripping your home country – even though I’m lucky Australia is such a big place, there’s so much to be discovered in smaller countries, as I found out when I lived in New Zealand
• Reaching out to someone you admire to collaborate on a project

These ideas have those same feelings in common.

Growth and learning, check!

Curiosity and creativity, check!

Fun and freedom, check!

And none of them are any small feat. You can’t tell a novice runner that a marathon’s a breeze. You can’t tell a guy who’s lived in the same village his whole life that having a Japanese exchange student to stay won’t be a steep learning curve. And you can’t tell a never-published author to just write that book already.

As my client Kelly Azevedo says in her book Every Entrepreneur Needs Systems, “As a writer, the advice ‘just write’ is simultaneously accurate and annoying because, yes, it is that simple, but the simplicity of the task ignores that it is not easy.”

No, it’s not easy. But if you dare to do it, it’s oh-so worth it. Happy exploring at home!