Lesson #11 Just Keep Going
I spent an afternoon working by the beach in Washington; the views were amazing and soothing on the soul.
We live in a time of ultimate convenience. We can get coffee delivered, we can watch an unlimited amount of TV without commercials, we can fly in the sky to destinations that are separated by oceans.
And yet, for all intents and purposes, so many of us are unhappy. We are unfulfilled. We hate our jobs, we have less friends, we are estranged from our families. Everything just seems so difficult.
Most of us are only a few generations removed from a very different world. A world without safety nets like the 40 hour work week and social security. When we didn’t begin child labor at 10 years old, when school after 16 was few and far between. Depending on your age, your grandparents were the first generation in your family to actually have a retirement. And we are all slated to live longer and have more time to fulfill other goals and aspirations past the age of 55.
We have access to education and healthcare, books and culture, the ability to make money from a computer. Yet we still struggle with purpose and meaning.
Don’t get me wrong, nothing is perfect. We aren’t living in some utopia, but for most of the time we have been humans on earth, we’re living pretty darn well. The life expectancy has near doubled in the last 100 years to start.
I thought about it this a lot when we were on the road. Because things were harder. To make a meal took so much more effort. We needed to set up camp dozens of times. We weren’t always shielded from the elements. And sometimes things just weren’t very fun.
I reflected on the past roughly 2 decades of being an adult. I thought about my days as a full time trainer, rising at 4:30am to start my 5am clients and leaving the gym at 9pm. I reminisced about how I used to drink coffee before napping so I would wake up and start the second half of my workday.
I thought about the years in management when I was constantly doubting myself and feeling overwhelmed. I remember months of no vacation and years and years of 6 day workweeks. After I left NYC, things began to get easier. I worked for a bigger company and began working 5 days a week (that changed when I became manager again but hey, I digress). I had a parking spot and a car and a 15 minute commute.
When I left that job in 2021, my schedule was my own. I no longer had to get up early minus 2 days a week. All of a sudden, life got so easy. Was this what I had been working towards? Why wasn’t I feeling fulfilled? Why did I feel so lost?
We are accustomed in the US to only feel productive if we are working, making money. So when you begin to get into a position when you know you can make money but not work as hard as you used to, sometimes it’s confusing.
What was I supposed to be doing? Just keep going. I finished projects and certifications on the road. Just keep going. I had more free time than I ever fathomed as an adult. Just keep going. I worried I would get too comfortable and not be able to accomplish more. Just keep going.
The thing about being out on the road, is that it’s just you. You have to face yourself. You have to look in the mirror and be okay with who is looking back at you. Otherwise you will look for that reflection in FB posts or Instagram. You will compare and contrast with others your age or in your field. You will create goals based on fear and competition, not what you are passionate about or want to learn about. You will chase material items to feel normal and fit in.
Life cannot be about how align yourself with other people. There is so much more than just that. You don’t have to sell most of your belongings and buy a rooftop tent either to find it. Living on the road was one of the settings that allowed me to grow and see who I really am, and where I want to go.
Just keep going.
Me making salad at camp; we ate a lot of salads.