I love living on the road. I am beyond lucky that I look out my window every two weeks and see a new landscape. My life is constantly in motion, from traveling to the following location, exploring as much as possible, to finding out where we are going next. It feels like I’m always on the go. So why do I feel so paralyzed in life? I look around, and although my location is constantly changing – my fears, wishes, and the feel of everyday life are unchanged.

I can’t help the feeling that my emotional life is stunted and honestly has been for a while. I’m constantly changing my mind and can’t commit to one idea fully. This is one of the reasons I decided to uproot my entire life and live full-time on the road. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go next. Where I wanted to build community. And honestly, this is more to do with the fact that I haven’t really felt myself grow.

That is until recently. I knew I needed to get out of my own head. Change up the pace. Challenge myself to try something new, exciting, and complex. Traveling has been a passion of mine since I was a child. Although, it’s one thing to travel on vacation and spend a week or two in a new location and be able to shut off your mind and life and another thing entirely to consistently move from spot to spot, looking for the closest grocery store, best spots for wifi, and dog parks.

I’ve been living on the road for about 8 months, and it has challenged me in ways I never expected. As a result, I find myself questioning everything. What do I like? What do I want to do with my time here? What do I want to focus my energy on that will bring me both peace and fulfillment?

As I’ve been asking myself these questions, although I’m constantly in motion, am I progressing? Has this “experiment” worked in any way?

My first response is that even though my physical life has changed, I haven’t seen my life drastically change. I still get up daily with a similar routine that I had in my hometown apartment. I’m not suddenly a big travel influencer who quit her job and is constantly running down weirdly quiet, beautiful roads with no care in the world. My entire life hasn’t done a complete 180 – so it must be a failure.

This idea of thought kept me going round and round when I lived in one place. Feeling stunted physically and mentally, but never asking myself questions on how I could genuinely change it – other than knowing that I needed to make a massive shift in my life.

Living on the road has opened my eyes to the importance of mindset. Even the slightest detour can affect your journey’s trajectory.

While living on the road, I’ve started making small mindset shifts to improve each day. I understand that I’m in a very privileged position and have decided I don’t want to take any day for granted. And that doesn’t mean I need to see a 180-degree turn in my life, but small bumps to change my trajectory. I’ve started getting up and eating a healthy breakfast (this may seem small, but ya girl was only living off of chai until around 1pm). I’ve found ways to enjoy working out by taking in the scenery to pass the time (because even I’ll admit some workouts can go at a snail’s pace). We go out every Wednesday to a fantastic local spot to try out something new while still making more of an effort to eat in more and explore new recipes both Ian (my boyfriend) and I enjoy.

With these small changes I’m making in my day, I’m starting to feel better. I’m beginning to see a difference in my confidence. I’m starting to feel creative again. I’m pushing myself each day to learn a new way to get outside my comfort zone. Some days I fail, have a mental breakdown, and binge-watch Friends on repeat. And that’s okay. I’m learning not every day needs to be life-changing.

Taking breaks, making small changes, and learning to be okay with the unknown are still hard for me. I struggle with following my dreams because I worry too much about what others will think. But making minor changes to my everyday routine has allowed me to start taking down those walls. I’m learning to trust my instincts and listen to what I want to spend my time doing – and it all started with asking myself what I wanted and putting in the work to make small changes that have led to some significant differences.

I’m excited about what the future holds. So, if you feel paralyzed, I challenge you to make that small change in your day. Whether that’s taking time to eat breakfast, reading for 15 minutes, or going for a ten-minute walk – you will be amazed at how these small detours in your road can change your entire trajectory in life. Life is about learning to love the journey and not the destination, right?

P.S. you’ve got this.