The World Spins Madly On

World Spins Madly On

Once you go. You know. That's a sign that used to hang in the airport in Montego Bay. I hope it still hangs there, because no truer words have ever graced the walls of an airport.

Since I can remember, I've felt a pull inside me to travel. As a young kid, I'd pocket the brochures from Travel Agencies (in the days before the internet *gasp*) and flip through them, fantasizing about what that picture perfect sand might feel like between my toes. It wasn't until I was 27 that I got to experience it for myself on seven-mile beach in Negril, Jamaica.

From the moment I breathed in the salty ocean air and felt the warm grains of sand sliding beneath my toes while the sun kissed my shoulders, I was hooked. I felt my soul connect with something deeper that I'd never felt before, and I was addicted to the rush.

I started saving for my return trip the moment I got home and in the years that followed, I returned to Jamaica twice. I went to Cuba, and Mexico, and many other destinations around the world.

Because I was in on the secret.

Travel isn't something you do.

It's a profound experience that you have.

You won't find this feeling in another person or a material item, but you will find in the collective energy of a place and its people and the time you spend there.

Travel changed me. It taught me, it tested me, and it healed me. I was going to do it forever.

Until...

2019. The world we all knew flipped upside and started a dizzying spin of uncertainty about our collective future. A global pandemic with the power to bring us to our knees and isolate us from everything and everyone. What followed has been a very long and lonely 18 months for everyone.

Yet, as we head into the winter of 2021, there is a glimmer of hope. The world spins madly on, but it has slowed enough that maybe, just maybe, we can give ourselves permission to catch our breaths.

That sounds scary. It sounds intimidating, daunting, and frankly unheard of. We've spent the last 18 months on guard... how can one possibly catch their breath when we've been holding it for so long? How can we give ourselves permission to feel hopeful again? We've spent 18 months telling ourselves we can't do things, so how can we find a way to change NO YOU CAN'T to YES, YOU CAN?

Take the first bold step. Book the trip! Do the thing! Let the Caribbean sky recharge your spirit and renew your soul. Go, and let it remind you that Covid took so much from us, but it can't steal our dreams. It's okay to put one foot in front of the other and step into your life again, even if the journey takes some time. Be inspired. Be moved. Be changed.

Let travel do what it does best and heal you.

If a pandemic can teach us anything, it's that life is too short for regrets or "I-should-haves." Buy the dress. Start your business. Write the book. Chase your dreams. Travel. Our time here is so finite. Don't look back and wish you'd done things. Do them. Experience them! The world, we now know, can change at the drop of a hat, so what are you waiting for? Live life to the fullest. See places. Meet people.

Sure, travel will be different, but the first time my toes hit the sand in a post covid world, I know that now, more than ever, I will cherish every single second.

Because once I went.

I knew.

And once you go...

You'll know.

Safe travels!