Something I Should Have Done Ten Years Ago
At last.
When this post goes live, I will be en route to Bogotá, Colombia, the start of my 3 month (minimum) trip abroad. It’s the first long-term travel I’ve ever done.
I am so excited. I am totally stoked. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am.
The first part of my trip will be spent in Bogotá volunteering with a social organization. I will be helping underprivileged folks with technology skills, spending time with abandoned and displaced youth, and teaching some English.
I will also be going like mad to become fluent in Spanish. This will be relatively easy because Spanish will be absolutely everywhere in Colombia. Maybe I’ll take a fluency test at some point to see if I’ve officially “made it”.
The latter part of my trip is still uncertain. I’m tentatively planning on traveling around Colombia, via CouchSurfing and/or staying in hostels. I would like to visit the Caribbean cities like Barranquilla, Cartageña, and Santa Marta, as well as Medellin. But, as of now, it is a little bit up in the air.
I have always wanted to go abroad and do these things but am finally pulling the trigger at age 28.
Honestly, though, I should have done this 10 years ago.
I don’t live with regrets, as I believe every person lives life forwards, not backwards. But, if I were to talk to my 18 year old self, I will tell him to hop on a plane and go abroad.
This got me thinking…
Radical idea: In 10 years, what will you regret not doing?
You’ve probably heard the saying “You regret more what you didn’t do than what you did.” Well, many of my own personal regrets involve good things I am doing now which I wish I had started earlier.
I wish I had started my business earlier. I wish I had learned Spanish earlier. I wish I had gone abroad earlier.
What if we applied this looking forward rather than looking backward?
What if you said to yourself, “In 10 years, I wish I will have done x”, and then you go out and do x. So, instead of conceding that you can’t do the things you deeply want to do and will have those regrets, what if you made it a principle to do the things you want to do? In other words…
Is there something 10 years from now you will regret not doing? Do THAT.
All of those things you really want to do, make it a principle to move towards them now. If you can’t do them this very second because they take a longer period of time to complete, ask yourself: What is the next actionable step I can take to move towards this? Then do it.
Don’t put off your dreams and have regrets. Put off your fictional self and go get your dreams.
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