Letting go

One of the challenges I thought about in taking this trip was how to relax into it - how to let go. For close to 30 years, I’ve been getting up and going to work and have enjoyed all the structure that those days bring. What was I going to do without a plan to every day? Would I be bored to death? Would I want to kill someone (namely the other author of this blog)? Would I regret our decision to take this trip? So far the answer is no to all of those things. In fact, it’s been far easier to let go than I expected. Our days are full with a bit of site-seeing, travel planning, beach-lazing, exercise, travel-writing-attempts, Netflix on occasion and of course, a few cervezas/cervejas and cups of vino/vinho.

It has given me a bit more time to think and I suppose that, because we have started our trip in South America, I’ve thought about what it means to be a foreigner in a foreign land. I’ve experienced the daily struggle of trying to communicate in languages that I barely speak (and barely is being generous). I feel stupid and also disrespectful for coming to a place and not being able to communicate on their terms. It certainly makes me feel for people who move to other countries where the language spoken is not their first. As a kid growing up in the US, I recall how difficult we made it for other kids where English was not their first language and how dismissive we still are of people who struggle with English. It’s certainly quite eye-opening to be on the other side.

So while letting go of the routine has been easy, I know the time away will give me opportunities to reflect on some of the more important topics in this world that I’ve let go for the past thirty years.