People often tell me:
Travel sounds nice, but I like having routine.
They're right.
Travel rips your routines to shreds and throws you into constant improvisation. Chaos feels like torture in the moment, until you realize it's also teaching.
This sucks
Every challenge has a pause where you think, this sucks. From there, it's all mindset:
- Blamer: explodes, curses, hurls blame at anything nearby
- Dodger: distracts, scrolls, dodges the obvious
- Solver: accepts reality, asks now what?, moves
I've been all three. But only the solver mindset leads to moving forward and growing. Bonus points if your first instinct is to laugh (it's become mine).
No shoes, no problem
After finishing the Ha Giang Loop, I headed south with my new friends to Ninh Binh. The plan was to continue on to Ha Long Bay, except my shoes disappeared overnight (I'm 99% sure a dog carried them off. Blamer!).
I could have gotten mad. I could have panicked. Instead, I laughed and asked what now? (Solver!).
Our homestay host gave me a motorbike ride to the bus stop, but he wouldn't stop for shoes. So I boarded the bus barefoot, and rode four hours that way.
When I arrived in Ha Long Bay, I stumbled into a sports shop around the corner from my accommodation. With Google Translate, I typed: I lost my shoes and need to buy sneakers. The shopkeeper kindly helped me try on pairs until I found a fit.
Walking barefoot on city sidewalks was uncomfortable, but it reminded me I could keep moving anyway.
What travel actually teaches
Travel doesn't just rip up your routines; it forces you to practice how you respond. When you choose the solver mindset consistently, the benefits flow over into every area of your life.
Sometimes, the only routine that matters is moving forward, even barefoot.
