Friends keep asking how we dare to plan an around the world trip, especially with small kids.. Some call us crazy, some call us brave.. I don’t know what we are, but here is how we made our minds:

Couple of months ago, one afternoon we started to talk with Nico how wonderful it would be to take a break and travel around the world. Then we started to think why we cannot do it. Would it be too irresponsible? Could we afford it? Would it be too dangerous? How about the girls’ school? How about our jobs?

Then we changed our approach and asked “Why not?”,”Why not now?”. We have realized that all the reasons we come up, why we cannot do this, are related with future and with our fear of unforeseen risks of the future. On the other hand, even though we keep working hard, trying to keep things safe, we never know what the future will bring. What if, in the future we are not able to do these things anyway?

What about how we feel right now, and what we want to do now.. This way of thinking sounds extremely childish and immature to us.. “Postponing pleasure and doing your duties” is what we learned while becoming adults, and we believe that’s needed to be “successful” in the future. But that’s also the reason why we forget to focus on how we feel in the moment and realize what we really want. (I find this very similar to the fact that little kids know when they are full, but when parents force them to finish what is in their plate, they stop trusting their feeling.. )

Honestly, it still takes some conscious effort from my side not to feel guilty about this decision or not to get consumed with the worries about the future. But we feel, this trip is a good step in putting our priorities right, and remembering the “now”. We trust being a bit “crazy or brave” right now is safer for our future happiness..