Posts tagged Self Improvement

12 Profound Life Lessons Travel Will Teach You

All Topics FEATURED Lifestyle Personal Self-Improvement 17 Comments

To say that travel changes you is a vast understatement. Whether you like it or not, long-term or frequent travel will have some impact on your life and your mentality — but it is up to you to be open-minded enough to absorb and grow from those experiences. And travel did more than just change me. So what life lessons have I learned after 4 years of travel?

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Battling Hundreds of Emotions When You First Start Traveling

All Topics New Zealand Personal 3 Comments

Excitement. Fear. Elation. Anxiety. Euphoria. Hesitation. There are many words that can be used to describe the millions of emotions one experiences when traveling abroad for the first time, and when I first stepped foot into New Zealand — my first country ever, I experienced all of these and more.I’ve already stated that stepping onto my Air New Zealand plane and flying to the other side of the world was the scariest moment of my life (not because of the Richard Simmons intro they have), but stepping off the plane… Read More

Photo banner for live lessons featuring myself leaping off a cliff near a waterfall in New Zealand.

Life Lessons Learned By Almost Dying

All Topics Lifestyle Personal 3 Comments

[dropcap]BAM![/dropcap] Dead. It happened that quick. Well, at least it can happen that quick. Today I was nearly run over by a car. Had I been riding my bike just a little faster and had I not braked last minute, I could have been roadkill. After my heart stopped racing and I regained my composure, I began to think about what that meant. And it seems like I’ve learned some life lessons by almost dying today. I’m guilty of getting caught up in the everyday grind of things when not backpacking… Read More

Your New Year Resolutions are Rubbish – How to Succeed in 2015.

All Topics Guides Lifestyle 10 Comments

Ooh, those are some fighting words aren’t they? Did that hurt? It is a touchy subject when somebody takes your New Year resolutions and categorize them as trash. Except I am right — and by the end of this post I guarantee you and I will be in agreement. Then you’ll be ready t take on 2015 punch for punch. It’s a sick cycle that happens every year like a skipping record. Another 365 days are scratched off that paradise calendar; and after drudging through another year of living on… Read More

A dwindling travel budget and fear of failure.

All Topics FEATURED 24 Comments

Something haunts me as the thunder rumbles deep outside. Lightning streaks across the sky every so often, white-washing the rolling grey clouds like the flash of a camera. The pouring rains rat-ta-tat-tats on the rooftop and weeps down the window front — headlights and tail lights from passing traffic shimmer across that waterfall before me, creating a kaleidoscope-like obscura. Something else, less literal, hangs dark and foreboding above my head. A cloud looms over me, darkening my mood. It is fear. A creeping fear. The type of fear that waits… Read More

Amtrak Train Across America Day 1: Closure.

All Topics Lifestyle 6 Comments

Your life can change in an instant, or with one simple choice — like one I made to take an Amtrak train across America. After a year stateside working and saving up money, the pull of my nomadic soul began again. I needed to travel. So, on a whim, I booked a flight to Thailand from California. I just had to get there. And what better way to see the United States than by rail. Today began just like every other day. I woke up at the shriek of my… Read More

Revealing My Travel Plans to My Brother, and the Shocking Conclusion.

All Topics FEATURED Personal 28 Comments

It would be an immense understatement if I said the relationship between my brother and I has been a tad bit rocky the past 5 years. Growing up, we were polar opposites beside just our looks. I would be more prone to frolicking in the woods, building forts, pretending, using my imagination, and that sort. My brother on the other hand was always working. He began working at the age of 13 at a nearby produce stand, and his hobbies included winning trophies in BMX racing or becoming a championship… Read More

Will I be Disowned for my Love of Travel again? Today I tell my Brother I’m Leaving.

All Topics FEATURED 6 Comments

If you have followed this blog from the beginning, or if you have read my article about my brother disowning me because I moved to New Zealand for a year, then you will know just how badly this dinner tonight could go. In a couple of hours I will be meeting with my brother and his wife at a restaurant for the first time in months. I have been trying to meet up with him to break the news that I will be heading to Southeast Asia for at least… Read More

Escape From Tomorrowland: Why You Should Travel TODAY!

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So many of us live in Tomorrowland. “Tomorrow is another day.” “I’ll do this tomorrow.” “I’ll start working towards my dream tomorrow.” “Tomorrow is a new beginning.” Well let me just voice my opinion about tomorrow. Tomorrow does not exist. Now, I’m not telling you that this is fact by some divine knowledge…. I’m just asking you to toy with this idea. Just think about this for a minute. Tomorrow is a theory. Tomorrow is a comfortable assumption that the sun will rise. Tomorrow is a hope that your heart… Read More

The Proclamation to the World of Intent to Live Gnarly

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Definiton: Proc-la-ma-tion |ˌpräkləˈmāSHən – a public or official announcement, esp. one dealing with a matter of great importance. My friends, dreamers, travelers, and warriors of the Live Gnarly Army; today is the day to proclaim your intent to the world. One of great and profound importance, one that encompasses your hopes, dreams, aspirations, and purpose. One that will send shockwaves from your soul, through your body, and out to the world. One that will set forth action for you to start traveling and living that dream. This proclamation was the… Read More