What the Road Has Been Teaching Me

Three months ago, my daughters, our spoodle Chika, and I packed up our lives and set off to travel around Australia in a motorhome while I continued coaching clients online.

It's been equal parts incredible, challenging, unpredictable, and humbling.

There have been breathtaking coastlines, roads we had to turn around on because they were too rough for our rig, campsites that didn't feel right, a tiny stowaway we nicknamed Jerry (if only Tom had jumped on board as well), and more than one occasion when Plan B quickly became Plan C (like ending up in a tiny country hospital for 5 days).

One thing I've realised is this.

The road doesn't care about your plans.

It simply presents what's in front of you.

Sometimes the wisest decision isn't pushing through.

It's turning around, changing direction, and finding another way.

It struck me how different that is from the way many of us live.

We stay committed to plans that no longer fit.

We keep going simply because we've already invested so much time and energy, as though changing direction somehow means we've failed.

I'm beginning to think it means the opposite.

Sometimes changing direction isn't giving up.

It's recognising that new information deserves a new decision.

And perhaps that's true off the road as well.

Pic: Lake Bonney SA