Traveling When You Can't Travel #2

Wanderlust and a few curated travel moments

Happy Travel Tuesday, Friends!

I’m not sure if you caught it, but a few weeks ago I posted a video of one of my favorite artist/singer/dancers, Derek Hough, on Intstagram, @bigstoryliving. You might know him from Dancing with the Stars. I posted the video (and will again, below) because of its beauty and inspiration. I also posted it because it was such a moving example of the soul-shaking emotion I personally feel when I am “out there” experiencing the world. This uncensored and awe-filled affectivity the video provoked within me at first watch was unexpected, and yet, so familiar. My soul recognized the emotion and somehow I was transported on a “holiday,” of sorts.

You see, I have felt similar stirring in a cold cathedral in Prague and also while staring at the canals of Ljubljana at Christmas time. I have experienced a version of that awe while eating Vietnamese egg rolls atop the City View Café in Hanoi as I watched the buzzing traffic below. Later, I felt it again while walking the muddy rice paddies, only to get my shoe stuck in the depths, forcing me to stop my intentions and just sit for a moment in still silence. And similarly, I recall this kind of wonder from a day hike during the lady bug hatch at Betasso Preserve trail in Colorado and from a late night stroll with Kevin along the Seine.

To be wowed and to feel fully alive…it’s for these unexpected blips of captured joy that I travel. I travel to feel something. Don’t you? I travel for those precious moments when I find myself awake and connected to my faith deep within. I travel for the unplanned spaces where I discover another piece of me.

BUT I can’t always travel.

In a perfect life scenario, I think we all would love to have the finances and means to journey the world any time we please and as often as we like. I also believe that there is beauty and deep growth in the in between…in the waiting to travel…in the longing to explore. And that’s a good thing, don’t you think? Most of our days are spent in the waiting.

It’s in those moments of wishing and waiting where I am learning to be creative.

You see, traveling the world is the ultimate. But when I can’t hop the next plane, I am still convinced that my soul can experience equal moments of fulfillment, healing and inspiration from right here that is more than enough to get me through to my next planned holiday.

Hmmmm…how do I explain? If you’re not in a quiet space, try to find one. Then take a few deep breaths.

Now just watch this and see what I mean…

If this kind of art moves you, then that “swept away” feeling you have right now is what I mean.

Whatever stirs you and brings you joy can be like a balm that soothes your weary soul. It has the ability to renew, relax, help you catch your breath and transport you to a different reality. Isn’t that why we take holidays and long to get away?

Redefining Wanderlust

I actually believe in this ability to “travel when we can’t travel” so much that I wonder if we have misinterpreted the idea of “wanderlust” that all of us travel lovers claim to possess. Maybe it’s not the call towards the world that is our wanderlust at all. Maybe its a call to the Creator of it all, who is right here with us as we simply travel the steps we are about to take today. If that could be so, then it should be very easy to satisfy our wanderlust even when we can’t pack our bags and hit the open road.

Wanderlust. The ache for distant places; the craving for travel.

Wanderlust. The ache for a stirred soul that can be satisfied not only when traveling the world, but every time we intentionally marinate in the joy and inspiration our Creator uniquely offers that can fulfill us and make us more whole in the day-to-day and on the holiday.

Maybe?

I’m not pleased with the wording yet…but there is surely some deep truth forming somewhere in there. Ha!

I’d love for you to leave me a comment and tell me what you think about this idea. It’s a new one for me.

Author, Sarah Bessey, talks about how women, in particular, are taught to suppress their joy and suppress their anger. I can relate. I think I travel to find my joy because when I’m “out there” I can be whomever I want to be. But JOY is here for our taking today and wanderlust might just want to be fulfilled, for now, by simply allowing ourselves to come alive in what brings us these brief, sweet, smiling moments. It might just be enough.

You are smiling now, aren’t you?

Don’t you feel something?

Isn’t that why we travel?

Why not try capturing moments like these, or whatever your style might be, to fulfill your wanderlust in those in between moments when you can’t travel?

Go stand in awe in front of a florist window. Stop on the side of the road to watch the horses run and play. Smile at the mommas and sweet, baby calves in the spring fields. Linger a little bit longer. Curl up with a good book and and exceptional cup of coffee. Go to your favorite ice cream shop and order two scoops.

Wander.

Happy Travels,

Amy