facing fears

You Don’t Need to Be Rich to Travel

I don’t know what it is about the terms “rich” and “travel” that society has seemed to put together but unless your talking about how “rich” in thought, character, and experience you will be when you travel, then they have nothing to do with each other.

I was recently watching an old movie called Wall Street and heard Charlie Sheen’s character say he wanted to make insane amounts of money so that he could leave the game and ride his motorcycle across China.

Wait a minute! I rented a motorbike in Indonesia for $3/day so I can assure you that insane amounts of money are not needed to ride across China or any other part of Asia.

Sadly, most people think like this. The experience of travel and vacations has constantly been sold to us with a “cash value”. Somehow society has been coerced into thinking that the experience of travel is intertwined with the amount of money you can spend on such a trip.

What bullshit. [Read more…] about You Don’t Need to Be Rich to Travel

Tearing My Box to Shreds!

by Matt 3 Comments

skydive — About 14,992 feet from hitting the ground

I can’t believe you jumped out of a plane!

This was one of the many reactions I received upon returning from my 6-month adventure through New Zealand and Australia.

I couldn’t really believe it either. It seemed like just a few years ago I was too nervous to get on the rollercoaster in West Edmonton Mall because it went upside down. I never would of thought that I would be scuba diving in the ocean at nighttime or jumping off bridges in New Zealand.

When I look back on life as a kid and as a teenager I can definitely see little bits of the adventurous soul in me but nothing compared to what it is today.

One of the biggest leaps I made that began my journey of self-discovery was packing up my things and moving to another city. I was 20 at the time and was growing tired of the town I had grown up in. It was a rich town where everyone made heaps of money working in the oil industry but for some reason I just didn’t want anything to do with it. I had all these dreams bottled up inside of me of adventure and mystery. I wanted to explore the world and all the amazing things that exist beyond the place I grew up in. I decided to take a leap and move. It was an exciting time leaving home and living on my own in a much bigger city. I enrolled in business school and rented a place right across the street. Life was great. [Read more…] about Tearing My Box to Shreds!

Vagabonding: Living the Choice of Freedom & Adventure

by Matt Leave a Comment

Since my 6 month journey down under, I can’t seem to picture my life without the constant curiosity and adventure of long-term travel. Life will never be the same for me. I will never happily be able to ride the migratory route to work each day, live in the same community my whole life, and partake in the everyday average hobbies and activities that have become continuous out of simplicity and habit.

I’ve always wanted to come up with my own term for what I do and the way I feel on the road but really it all comes down to the notion of vagabonding.

Vagabonding, by definition is: (1) The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time. (2) A privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity, discovery, independence, realism, self-reliance, and the growth of the spirit. (3) A deliberate way of living that makes freedom to travel possible. [Read more…] about Vagabonding: Living the Choice of Freedom & Adventure

The Importance of Saying Yes – And My Biggest Challenge Yet

by Matt 10 Comments

A while back I learned the importance of saying yes. Saying yes to challenges that scared me. As a teenager who was to shy to step outside the box in case I embarrassed myself, I constantly limited all my opportunities in life. Little fears that I had would stay fears because I was to shy or embarrassed to challenge them head on. Then I realized how important it was to say yes to doing things that scared me, facing my fears, and growing as a result.

What’s something that scares you that you have always wanted to do?
[Read more…] about The Importance of Saying Yes – And My Biggest Challenge Yet