Time Travel

The first and only time I visited Paris, I was 10 years old. I still have incredible memories from that trip bringing me right back there… like getting stuck on the Eiffel Tower after we watched the elevator drop like an amusement park ride :0

 

I love to travel and do a lot of it for both work and pleasure. As I write this, I’m on a work trip in my home state of New Hampshire, staying in the hotel where I had my prom. Needless to say, there are many memories flooding back from my childhood and the years after college I spent here.

 

As I live in the now, thinking about my past, my mind also jumps to the future as I think about my upcoming trip to Paris with the family I’ve created. Traveling has a way of taking you out of time or putting you squarely back in it. It reminds me of how non-linear time really is and how every moment is an opportunity.

 

To choose a different future.  

 

I love the unexpected realness travel brings into your life. The decisions made outside of your routine challenge you to come up with new solutions and different ideas as you move through new scenery and into shit you don’t expect. The more you do it, the more distinctive your memories become that inform your future self as you draw from those experiences.

 

Travel can help shape a different version of you through every trip and affirm who you are at the same time. It sometimes forces you to dig deep into your fears, face your inadequacies, and deal with yourself on a whole other level.

 

I love that.

 

But, you don’t have to travel to exotic lands to experience this evolution of your soul. You have the power to visit your past and future in your mind, think of it in the way you wish, and create the present you want.

 

You already do.

 

If you’ve ever compared your memory of an event with someone else who was there, you may have experienced the power of alternate realities. Like when you and your sister remember the “facts” differently about something you both experienced. Or when you and your spouse both think you’re “right” about how something went down.

 

The power of your own thoughts, feelings, and memories are so strong you may think they are the only, the ultimate. But, you may want to think about what details you may be leaving out. What “facts” you may be getting wrong. What pieces you may be missing.

 

How does your past inform your present and your future?

 

If there are memories that haunt you, people who’ve wronged you, mistakes you’ve made, and resentments you hold onto think about how can you feel differently about them? I’m not talking about forgetting what happened in the past, but to see it from different angles and through the lens of your adult, more capable self.

 

Living the life of your dreams and creating the future you want takes envisioning a life bolstered by your past not encumbered by it. You can travel through you life, in your mind, anytime.

 

What version will you remember and create from?