“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
It had been almost two years since my last overseas adventure. Actually it had been almost two years since I had a getaway that lasted more than 4 days. I had been so busy chasing down goals and starting out my career I forgot to take a break, and boy did I feel it. When it was finally time to venture off again I was bloody exhausted!
I had a spectacular start to the year with AFLW, Premiership celebrations and finishing my Sports Nutrition course I then spent May to July idly trying to hit goals with low motivation and confidence in any of my abilities. It wasn’t until I returned from our annual work conference, this year a little getaway to the Blue Mountains, did I feel my motivation return. I had spiralled back into old habits of poor self love, mindless eating and general disinterest in my usual rewarding life. I even lost my motivation to write, hence why I am recalling my European adventure in past tense.
Upon reflection I can see clearly that my body was in a state of heightened stress as I continued to try and hit fitness/physique goals rather than looking after it. Even as I was packing my bags I was worried about how I would look in photos, that my jeans were too tight and the targets I would be chasing once I returned. What a bloody awful outlook! I’m about to jetset on an incredible holiday and all I can think about is how my jeans are tight *facepalm*!
I carried these horrible feelings of self doubt and worry on the flight over and for the first few days before something finally washed over me. I made the decision to be present. To take a breath and absorb as much of my surroundings as possible. It’s hard to think about yourself when you’re too busy mesmerised by a cascading waterfall. Slowly but surely this technique worked. I started to care less about what goals I had to achieve and more about thoroughly enjoying the breath taking landscapes we were exploring, the incredible produce we were consuming and finally shutting off from the distractions of my normal life. I finally felt myself again; positive, adventurous and happy.
Travel, getting away and exploring the world outside your little bubble is an integral part of a wholesome existence. It makes you realise many truths, the most important being that your life is pretty insignificant to this larger world but you are completely in control of how you live it. I let my self doubt take over and lost motivation in things I previously enjoyed. I missed the opportunity to share my adventures as I had done with my past travels but I am ready to share with you now. I’ll do my best to give you a retrospective run down on myself and Ryan’s amazing trip. I’ll give insight into how I nourished my body, kept on top of my training and opened my eyes to a way of life that I want to work hard to translate into my own routine. Keep your eyes peeled for my tales from England, Iceland, Spain, France and the Netherlands. Most of all I want to tell you if it’s been too long since your last trip, book your holiday now! Don’t make my mistake and wait until you burn out.