Come Home with New Eyes

Welcome to my Monday Morning Message

We are home from vacation.

The suitcases are unpacked. The laundry is underway. The apartment looks the same.

But something in me feels different.

For years, I talked myself out of travel. I worried about leaving my work. I worried about spending too much money. I told myself it was not the right time, there was too much to do. The truth is I was just scared.

But it has finally dawned on me that travel is not simply an indulgence. It is essential to growth and rejuvenation.

When you leave your familiar routines, everything requires your attention. You have to decipher train schedules, attempt a few words in another language, taste something you cannot pronounce.

You sit longer over meals, surrounded by languages you don't speak, on streets that existed centuries before you did. You remember that your way of doing things is not the only way.

Of course, travel does not always go perfectly.

Someone gets sick (that was Ron). Someone leaves the European phone adapter on the plane (that was me). Someone can't find the restaurant and leads us up a long stairway to nowhere (that was Rebecca). Someone rolls her eyes at her parents' attempts at French (that was Isabelle).

Patience wears thin. Feet hurt.

But maybe that is part of the fun too.

Travel reminds us that most problems can be handled. We adjust, rest, ask for help, improvise, laugh, and keep going.

Travel doesn't have to mean a flight to Europe or a big budget. It can be a nearby town, an unfamiliar neighborhood, a museum, or a restaurant serving food you've never tried. Sometimes the bravest part is simply planning the trip.

The point is not how far you travel. The point is to interrupt your usual view.

You come home to the same life — but now you get to see it with new eyes.

This week, dream about where you want to travel to. Perhaps journal about it. Find a fun travel buddy. Adventure is waiting. You got this!

Have a wonderful week.

Colette