Don't Just Think Outside the Box...Get Outside It!

Yesterday I read another great article from BootsnAll (http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/12-04/full-time-family-travel.html). 


The story is about a family with four children who pick up, leave their "six-figure" jobs and their "castle" of a house to travel the world for a year.  While they are away, the stock market crashes, but instead of freak out and return home to find a stable income, they decide that they don't want their journey to end, and they find ways to gain an income wherever in the world they happen to be, and have been traveling around the world as a family ever since.  How cool!


As much as I try to think outside the box and maintain my positive outlook on life, the world, and the trip we are planning, it's easy to get weighed down with the "what ifs" and "real life" problems that we face constantly.  My other half is much more the realist, which is beneficial to us both, but can also frustrate me when I feel like he is always drawn to the negative while I'm focusing on the positive.


For example, I emailed him the article above yesterday with the subject: "When you have a few minutes - inspiration!"


Whether due to lack of time or focus (he was at work, so I can't be surprised), he responded about ten minutes later, "Wish we had 6 figure jobs and a 4 story castle of a home to sell right now…it would make pushing off on our journey that much better."


I wrote back calling him "Debbie Downer."  He wrote back defending himself saying that the story was awesome and inspiring, but we're in a different financial boat.


Wait, what?


I quickly realized that he didn't read the entire article.  I wrote back and told him to re-read the article because it wasn't about flaunting what they had and how they were able to travel - it was about confronting what they lost while they were away and carrying on with their dream regardless.  It's about hope, passion, and following your path.


I got a surprising response that made me happy, excited, and reconnected to my husband and our dream.  He said,  "Wow.  I missed the whole point of that article!  Wow and wow.  I was almost getting choked up.  Lets look at the calendar tonight, and try to nail down and semi concrete date of departure, based on commitments we know of etc. 

I am ready."

Me too.  Can't wait to be outside of the box.