Why You Should Travel Yesterday

I’m sitting in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport about to board my flight to my first destination – Santiago, Chile.  It’s kind of a surreal moment as I bought this ticket almost six months ago in February.  I wish I could say I spent six grueling months planning out every single moment of my trip, but as the natural procrastinator and care-free person that I am, I planned a little here and there, but decided to leave the rest up to chance.

Chance is something that people sometimes mistake as luck, but the two are very much different from one another.  Luck is usually just as it’s defined… luck.  If something good happens for no reason it’s considered good luck, and if something bad happens for no reason it’s considered bad luck.  Simple as that.  Chance, on the other hand, is a far different animal.

Personally, I see chance as being whatever you make of it.  There’s a chance the girl will say no if you ask her on a date, but she’ll never say yes if you don’t.  There’s a chance you will get rejected for the long shot job opportunity you came across on LinkedIn, but you’ll never get it if you don’t apply.  There’s a chance you’ll get robbed if you travel to a third world country, but you’ll never get the chance to experience someplace amazing if you don’t go.

I’ve spent the past five years in the social media industry.  Not necessarily a job involving hard labor, but not my dream job by any means.  I’ve thought about traveling for a while, but always came up with reasons why I shouldn’t go.  Where would I go?  How long would I go for?  How fast would I run out of money?  How safe is it?  How easy will it be to find a job once I get back?  How will this affect my career?  What will my friends and family think?  Will I get hurt?  Will I get killed?  Will I get kidnapped by a band of drug lord monkeys who steal all my clothes and electronic devices?

I then came to a realization.  I would never answer any of these “what if” questions if I never pulled the cord and jumped.  And now that I’m sitting in this airport, six months after I pulled the cord and bought my first plane ticket, I’m realizing one more thing… I should have done this a long time ago.  I should have done this yesterday.  I should have done this a month ago.  I should have done this a year ago.  I should have done this before now.  But the important thing is that I’m doing it.  And so should you.

You’ll always think of reasons why you shouldn’t do something.  Life is so much easier when you don’t have to work for something or think about anything difficult.  But that’s not really life.  Life is what you make of it.  Personally, I think life is all about experiencing new things and helping others along the way.  But no matter what it is that you’ve been thinking about doing, don’t think about it any longer.  Just pull the cord, take a deep breath… and jump!