How to celebrate failure by failing forward

2014 was shaping up to be an exciting year of travel and adventure. With a new job as a cycling/hiking leader slated to travel to Europe for the next six months, a trip to the California coast to interview for it, and training in Salt Lake City, Utah I couldn’t have been more excited.

With only two days left of training you couldn’t have told me that I’d be changing my flight and heading home early, but life has a funny way of working out. At twenty-eight years old, like many of us in our late twenties, I often find myself wondering about the path I’ve chosen.

The traditional lifestyle of marriage, children, a home and a steady job just hasn’t happened for me. Instead, I’ve chosen a life of adventure and travel, which means I’ve been incredibly fortunate in a different way.

Still, it’s hard work breaking out of traditional societal conventions and working towards a different lifestyle. Showing people around you that it’s okay to live and be different by following your own conventions isn’t easy, and failing at it can be devastating.

Yet, as I sit writing at 30, 000 km above the earth looking down upon the mountains, rivers, lakes, and plains of Utah, I can’t help but be thankful for how amazing life is, and how lucky we are to be able to work towards and accomplish our dreams. Heck, it only takes five hours to get from Salt Lake City to Buffalo, with snacks, wifi, and free TV on your personal devices!

I read an article where a travel writer was quoted saying that, “where you are is where you’re supposed to be.” So maybe I didn’t get the seemingly perfect job cycling across Europe leading tours, but I learned a lot about myself during my time training, through the incredible people I met, and the experience I had.

Even though this job didn’t work out, I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next because I’m where I’m supposed to be, still following my passions and fulfilling my dreams. Not only that, but I honestly believe that if you want something bad enough, work hard towards it, and learn from your failures you’ll be able to accomplish all that you desire.

So fail forward friends! Work towards accomplishing your dreams, follow your passions, learn from your failures, come back stronger, and know that where you are is where you’re supposed to be; because there’s nothing more fulfilling in life than knowing that you followed your heart and got back up when you stumbled on your personal road to success.

Happy Travels,

Yak