Why I Put My Goals, Health, and Life on Pause to Explore Japan for a Month
In the month of October I paused everything.
I stopped making content about photography and creativity.
I stopped seeing friends and doing my normal stuff.
I even stopped working out and lost a lot of gains.
I put my typical life on pause and left for a trip to Japan for an entire month.
And I took photos there of course, but that wasn’t the main point.
The point was to break routine, do something different, shake things up and live life.
And boy, do I have a lot to share with you guys - not just photography, but experiences and life lessons.
But for now, let’s start with what I did, why I did it, and what I learned.
If you’re a person who always thinks about doing something but can’t ever seem to do it, this is for you.
The Need for New - Daydreaming
To be frank, I’m not typically a bold, adventurous, spontaneous, nomadic type of dude.
In fact, I like staying home, a lot.
I like staying inside, doing normal things, sticking to routines.
Working out, making coffee, reading books, editing photos.
The simple life.
So packing up and taking off to see the world might seem like a break of character.
But travel has long been an essential part of my life and motivation.
Past trips to different places have changed me, motivated me to do different things, and have played a large part in my personal photography work.
And so I wanted and still want travel to play a role in my future, despite my existing comfort zones at home.
Plus, when you stick to your daily life and routines for a while, you start to crave something different.
You start to fantasize about the world out there because your normal life just becomes boring.
You’re going through the motions, doing the same old stuff every day, and you wonder, “Is this it?”
“Is there all there is to life?”
Trust me, even though I do a lot of creative work and work that I enjoy, I still have these thoughts.
I’ve noticed this feeling is definitely stronger the more I hate my life though.
For example, back when I’d work a job I hated or even when taking classes in school I wasn’t interested in but “had” to take because they were necessary for a degree or some other requirement, fantasies of a different life were much stronger.
I didn’t want to be there, which made me really really want to be somewhere else.
If you can relate or feel like you want something different in your life, travel isn’t necessarily going to fix that.
It can change your perspectives and give you a new direction on where you wanna go, but it wont change the current life you have.
The good news however, is it can be a beacon of motivation for you if you’re struggling and need something to aim towards.
Just don’t blow your entire life savings on a trip.
This is not an excuse to spend recklessly - either save up the money or don’t go.
So, why Japan?
Japan 2024 was a trip I’d been planning in my head for a long long time.
Spanning back to the first time I went to Japan in 2019, I always knew I wanted to go back…and do it “better”.
Perhaps I had reservations about the little things I held back on during my first trip - and I felt like I couldn’t fully enjoy myself because of it.
There were plenty of things I wanted to do knowing what I knew now, so I wanted a redo and I wanted to do it better.
Plus my photography is way better now than it was 5 years ago, so that was a big part of it too.
Thinking about being in a different place, on my own, seeing new and beautiful things, and just doing something cool excited me for a long time.
So if you feel similar about somewhere you wanna go, something you wanna do, but haven’t been able to do it, let’s explore getting over that hump.
Overcoming the Fear of Adventure
This part of the process, some people find easy.
To know what they wanna do, grab their things, and just do it, without thinking too much about it.
I have friends like this…
But if you’re anything like me, normal, you probably struggle a bit.
Your future plans may conflict with the current plans you have now.
You get stress, anxiety, or worry about doing something different.
You really wanna do this thing, but your fear pushes it off, pushes it off, pushes it off - and years go by.
And I’m not just talking about the money aspect (saving up and allocating resources for a trip).
I’m talking about the mental battles we face.
Telling all your friends you wanna go on this trip.
Daydreaming and fantasizing about this trip during your job.
Watching countless videos and pieces of content of other people doing the things you wanna do.
And this doesn’t have to be just travel, it could apply for anything you want to do in life.
Daydreaming without action.
I’ve gone through this cycle many times in my past, so much so that I eventually got sick of it.
I got so tired of it and so annoyed at myself.
Because I quickly realized: it was a trap.
You could spend the rest of your life thinking and fantasizing and never making it a reality.
People do this with their careers, their relationships, and their health.
I did it with this YouTube channel, until I decided one day I was just gonna do it and see what happens next.
And I wasn’t going to let that similar fear get in the way of Japan 2024.
So I focused, I planned, and I made it happen, at times through sheer willpower more than anything.
And I sacrificed a lot of other things in life to make room for it.
Things like not going out on casual hangouts every week to save money.
Things like productivity and growth for the time I’d be away.
Things like pausing my own goals in normal life for this trip.
And of course being willing to suffer and stress for something I really wanted.
It sounds rather dramatic for something that should be fun, I know.
But that’s what it takes - at least for me.
The point is, if you’ve got some bigger dream in your life that you’ve noticed yourself thinking about quite often, but progress isn’t being made towards it, you need to change.
You need to change the mindset and perspective you have towards approaching this thing you want.
Because you want it - and it’s not gonna fall into your lap just because you want it.
You have to make it happen.
Which means actually working and putting time and effort towards that thing, sacrificing time and effort in other areas, and overcoming your fear and objections to negative emotions.
It’ll suck for some time, but it’ll be worth it.
Revival & Transformation - A Different Person
When we’ve finally gotten over the first two humps, daydreaming and overcoming fear, we can finally have the trip we want, do the thing we want to do, whatever.
And whatever experience you have, whether it be good or bad, will be transformative.
We wont delve too much into the journey part today, because every experience is different and unique (I’ll also be sharing my trip more in future photography videos), but let’s talk about the return for now.
When you come back from this trip you have, or quit the job you hate, or go through whatever thing that’s been nagging at you, you will become a different person.
This is summed up by the quote we’re all familiar with:
“No man steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and he is not the same man.” - Heraclitus
Whether or not this transformation will be positive, I can’t say, but you will be different.
Because you aren’t even the same exact person you were yesterday.
Similar, sure, but yesterday you hasn’t done what today you has.
So let’s talk about some of these positive changes.
This thing that it feels like you’ve sacrificed so much for will be worth it.
Because regardless of what happened during your trip, you will have gained a new strength in life.
One that you can actually create change in your own life: one where you’ve actually taken action on your dreams and fantasies and did what you said you wanted to do.
Right?
It’s the difference between saying you want to do something and actually having done it.
Having that on your resume of life is a powerful thing.
Because you can take that and apply it to any and everything you want to do in the future.
The hurdle and jump we had to make isn’t as foreign, because we’ve done it before.
And it’ll lead us to doing many more bigger and better things.
It’s just the first one can be quite hard.
We’ll talk about how to overcome that in a bit.
In addition to that, this experience or change can actually invigorate you.
It’s often we think of this stuff as taxing and effortful - and it’s true, it can be.
It takes time, energy, and resources to plan for a big trip or muster up the courage to change your job.
But, going on a life changing trip can leave you with a ton of energy and excitement when you come back.
Or changing from a job you hate can take a lot of energy at first, but can leave you with tons more because your situation is so much better now.
So although sacrificing for these things can feel like a pause on your health, goals, and life, they can actually make you more fulfilled and productive than ever.
Those are just a few positive outcomes that make doing this thing worth it.
I’d encourage you to focus on that aspect.
So lets bring this together.
Why did I put my health, goals, and life on pause to explore Japan for a month?
And if you want to do something similar, how can you?
I did so because I needed to.
I had a strong fantasy in my head for a long time about this trip and the things I wanted to do, that I couldn’t just ignore them.
And I was familiar with the feeling - that I could daydream all I wanted and never do anything about it.
And I didn’t want that.
This forced me to take action.
I had to sacrifice and do a lot of things I didn’t want to or like doing to make this happen.
Overcoming the stress and anxieties of travel, putting aside money for the trip, cutting back on useless spending, and putting other wants on pause.
Which ultimately gave me the trip and experience I wanted - we’ll talk about it more in the future (it was awesome by the way).
And instead of being an actual pause on my life, I think it’ll boost not only my productivity, but my overall fulfillment.
I’m not the same person I was before I left - and that might be a good thing.
So say you have something of your own in mind you want to do, but can’t seem to do it.
It could be going on a trip, changing jobs, working out more.
You have the idea in mind, how do you do it?
The biggest takeaway, besides all the dramatic philosophical stuff we’ve already covered, is to start with something tiny.
You see, I didn’t start with my big trip, Japan 2024.
I built up to it with small changes and things I was capable of doing in that present moment.
Stuff like smaller trips, weekend camping trips, smaller plane flights.
Stuff like creative projects I worked on to turn fantasy into reality.
And little everyday stuff like working out, eating healthier, etc.
Those small changes built momentum in giving me confidence that I could spark change, until they eventually built upon themselves for a bigger goal like this.
And they made the planning and allocating part much much easier.
So do something small like making your bed, brushing your teeth twice a day, drinking more water.
They may seem small and irrelevant, but little by little, they’ll add up.
Progress into more medium sized goals, and then when you feel ready, start aiming for this bigger dream or fantasy you’ve got.
I hope this helped.
If you’d like to help support my future trips, the link to my website is down below.
You can also support me by checking out my latest photography zine: “The Sinking Sun”.
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I hope you found it useful.
Thanks as always, see you next time.
