Run away. Change your life.

Turns out, I don’t work very well from the road.  It’s all going to hit me when I get home.

My family and I have been on the road for three weeks now.  Without much of a plan, we ran away for the month of June.  And… part of July.  We should be home in a few weeks.

As for why we have run away, I have written about the reasons on my blog.  Well, I have written about some of our reasons.

There are other reasons.

I recommend you watch the movie, Fat, Sick, and nearly Dead. In the movie, Joe Cross realizes that if he is going to lose weight, if he is going to change his lifestyle, and if he is going to avoid a heart attack, he is going to have to drastically change his life.

At first, he tries to change his life without leaving his native Australia.  Within days, he realizes that his friends are not going to let him change.  They mean no harm, of course, but they are not going to allow him to change.

So, he runs away.  He spends 40 days in America.  Away from friends, family, work, and obligations, he changes his life.

We have done the same thing.  Twenty-one days ago I was addicted to sugar.  For years, I have attempted to break the addiction.  For years, I failed.  Again and again, I tried and failed.
Yet, as of today, I think I have broken the addiction.  I haven’t eaten sugar in three weeks.  I don’t crave the stuff anymore.

My kids are chronic snackers.  (Is snackers a word?)  When food is rationed, snacking is forbidden.  We are avoiding restaurants.  Every three days, or so, we stop and re-supply.  We buy only the food we need.  Snacking is out.  One of my girls keeps raiding the cooler anyway.  Well, she starts to raid.  She opens the lid, peers inside, and complains… “Nothing but vegetables!”
Everyone else has broken the habit.

I have wanted to learn Italian for a long time.  Out here, without the distractions of friends, family, work, duties, and obligations, I have the freedom to study whatever I like.  I am 100 pages into an Italian book I have wanted to read for a long time.  I hope to be able to read somewhat fluently before we return home.  My kids, too, are now able to carry on a basic conversation, in Italian.  That was not going to happen at home.  They were too busy as well.

If it sounds as if I am bragging, I am.  I am bragging about the power of running away.  In the Four Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris recommends we ditch the idea of retirement.  I ditched the idea long ago.  My generation does not get to retire.  Retirement is an old, dead dream of the Industrial Revolution.  Instead, Ferris recommends periodic “escapes.”  He recommends you take a break from it all, and just run away.  During these “mini” retirements, he recommends you do something challenging, or you learn something that excites you.

I recommend the same.  Forget retirement… especially younger readers.  It isn’t going to happen for most of us. Instead, take longer breaks.  Run away.  Change your life.  Learn something new.

Oh, and, by the way, people have asked us, “Is it hard?  Aren’t you scared?”  The answer is, yes.  It is hard.  We often do not know where we are going to sleep.  Near the Grand Canyon, we found no place to sleep.  So, we slept in the parking lot.  The stars were amazing.  Sunrise was spectacular.  Are we scared?  Sometimes.  The brakes on our van do not like mountains.  We were very nervous coming down the Organ Mountains is New Mexico.

But, in the end, the pro’s outweigh the cons.

Remember what Seneca taught us so long ago.  “Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?”

Don’t be afraid to run away.  Be afraid of what will happen if you don’t.

Have a great Saturday!

Dwane