Hundreds of Excuses Why Not

Couch Potatoing. Photo by El Alvi on Flickr

Photo by El Alvi on Flickr

I’ll be honest: I’ve been a bad traveler. A bad outdoorsman too. I haven’t been practicing what I preach. I’m a slacker.

I spend a lot of time on here telling people that they can travel, they should get outside, they must experience new places and people. I tell you that it doesn’t take as much money as you think, that you can make the time to see new things, that getting outdoors in the fresh air is good for you.

And yet, I haven’t.

I’ve been sitting indoors, and haven’t gone anywhere new in months. It’s why you haven’t seen any trip reports from me. There are a hundred excuses I could give you why: my wedding in September, my bad back, my lack of money.  But those are just excuses, the same ones I tell you not to give to yourself. They’re the excuses I tell you not to prevent you from planning and doing.

I haven’t stopped planning. I still have several trips I’m working towards, most notably my honeymoon in June. But those excuses I make are lingering, festering in the deepest, darkest pits of my brain, rotting away at my will to travel. I know that come January, when cabin fever sets in, I’ll be dealing with a severe case of wanderlust, but for now…

I just wanted to let you know that even for me, the guy who is constantly planning the next trip, forever itching to move, it can be easy to fall into the trap of inaction. Whatever you’re trying to do—plan a vacation, set up a romantic weekend getaway, organize a winter camping trip, change your entire lifestyle—keep in mind that even the most dedicated of us fall into ruts occasionally. Whether you’re quitting your day job to become an entrepreneur and second thoughts are creeping in, or that month-long trip of a lifetime seems way too far out of reach, what matters is how quickly you can pick yourself up out of the rut and keep moving forward.

Chris Cavallari

About Chris Cavallari

Chris is a longtime digital content producer based in Maine. Since 1999, he has been an early adopter and active participant in blogging, podcasting, and social media, and has been guiding small and mid-sized businesses in leveraging video, social media, and digital publishing to the fullest. With an avid love of travel and the outdoors, Chris started PartTimeVagabond.com in 2009 to give him a platform to showcase his outdoors and travel adventures, and to help educate others in doing the same.