Italy, Here We Come

Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. – Tony Robbins

Travel happens when the pain of staying where you are is greater than the pain of going somewhere new. - Me

I feel real pain now, real physical pain. I did not think this was possible. I feel the pain of not travelling for five months. Yes, only five freaking months. I feel the pain in my gut and in my chest.

I terribly miss the experience of seeing and smelling a place for the first time. I miss the sense of the unknown mixed with the thought of ‘after a few days my heart will know this place’. I miss the first morning when I travel. When I don’t know what breakfast will be but I am sure it will be great. I miss heading out and not knowing where to go. I miss having to choose where and what to eat. I miss walking aimlessly, looking at things I would never look at back home.

We have been in Canada for 11 years. For eight years we stayed here and did not travel internationally. Except for the time we needed to go back home to the Philippines because two of our parents passed away in the same year. In my mind back then, we couldn’t afford to travel. I thought it was impossible for a family of six to travel on the income that we had. My husband and I always wondered how other families of similar income could travel a lot. Of course we just blamed it on having too many kids.

And then something changed. After watching and reading a ton of motivational self-help materials, I changed my mindset to ‘we can have whatever we want in life’. My husband agreed. So we started travelling. We both left our full time jobs and started to work from home. Ooops, not that easy. I made it sound too easy. Let me rephrase that.

We sat down and thought of what we wanted in life. It included working from home instead of full time employment. We made that happen. We planned on travelling. It happened.

In 2013 I left my secure job at a bank. I did not have a replacement job. I only had income options like selling insurance and teaching. It took me about nine months to get back to the income I used to have. Now I am self-employed. In the same year my husband got fired from his job. Yes, fired. He did not go back. He moved to self-employment. Since 2013 we have travelled to three international destinations. We went back home to Philippines, we saw Disneyland for the first time, and we went to Maui, Hawaii. I am amazed at how we were able to afford those travels for a family of six.

Maui was five months ago. Now I feel the pain of not travelling. The minute I get my hands on an extra $10,000, I am booking us a trip to Italy. I am estimating in the next three months. How much extra money do I have right now? Zero. None. But I know I will get the required amount. My whole body feels the need to see Rome, Venice, Florence, and Pisa – Tuscany. Many people, including my friends, think I am crazy. I know I am not. I know we will go and soon.

I am an advocate of the Law of Attraction (LOA). Anything you want, you will attract. Anything your mind keeps on thinking of, you will get. Both good and bad. Anything you really feel in your heart that you desire, will come to you.

This is what happened for all our previous travels. I think of going to a place and then make a vision board for it. I put in my vision board, things that I am emotionally attached to. If you look at my Philippines vision board below, you will see the food I craved, the line up at the airport, my siblings and parents, the beaches we will visit. All of that came true.

 

I envisioned spending Christmas in Philippines in 2012 but it happened in July of 2013. Not bad.

Here is my travel vision board after Philippines. It said 2014. We went to Disneyland and San Francisco August 2014 and Hawaii in May 2015. Florence at the bottom right is soon and France maybe not in the near future. It doesn’t move my heart at the moment. Italy is what I am aching for.  

 

I posted this picture on Facebook. It was a brave act. Friends asked what the picture was and I had to explain my secret vision board life. To some of my friends it looked impossible because they knew each trip would cost us a minimum of $8,000. But we did it.

What is the point of this blog post?  I want to show you that nothing is unattainable in your life. You can do and be anything. You can go wherever you want to go. You can buy anything you want. You have that power. If you can visualize it, if you can feel it in your heart, you can have it. It doesn't matter how. You just need to know what you want and the universe will deliver it to you.

If you feel the pain of not having it, you will have it soon. Italy, here we come.