The main reason for this trip is to complete the first level of my Masters program for counseling. I knew this program was going to be difficult for me and it has been. I'm all for helping others but I also need to learn to help myself too, that is hard for me because I don't want to focus on my own problems, it's not fun and life has sucked royally for me for over a year. I'd rather pretend that things are great. I can't do that though, I need to deal with my feelings about everything, deal with them, let them go and continue to move on with my life so I can create the life that I have always wanted to live.
I've had this trip sort of planned out since August of last year. I knew then that I would have to make this trip, the big questions were "Who will go with me", " Do I want to go alone", "Should I drive or take a train".
The drawbacks of driving; you have to deal with other drivers (thankfully traffic has been fairly lite, so far). You have to plan out the driving a bit in order to make noticeable progress. Knowing the number of hours the drive should take and how many hours you can drive in a day is important. There is extra cost with hotels and gas/food stops.
The benefits of driving; You can stop when you want, pack food from home to eat less fast food (been working good far), you can see more of the country. (I didn't know Dodge City, Kansas existed until yesterday). You don't have to worry about dealing with others in an enclosed space.
I thought about making this trip alone, driving or on a train. A train would have been interesting but probably boring, though I would be able to use my computer, thanks to my hotspot and headphones.
The cost is more than I'd like for this trip but it's worth it. The weeks leading up to leaving I was sick and stuck in bed for two days. Day three I went back to work but was in a lot of pain and still had a pretty bad cough, then sciatic nerve decided to flare up. I used my acupressure brace for a week, which helped me walk like normal. Then the snow hit, while brushing off my car I pinched a nerve and that sent burning fire pain down my leg, I suffered through two hours of work before contacting a chiropractor. After X-rays and consultation I ended up going back for an adjustment, twice, just before I was set to spend five days on the road, traveling across the country. Thankfully the adjustments helped but I have more work to do to fix my back and correct what has been done over the years. I am feeling a lot better already though and driving has not been to bad at all.
One thing I have been hoping to accomplish from this trip was to be able to relax. So far I've had two days of relaxing. I have not felt stressed or worried at all and that is such a great feeling. I've been taking selfies and allowing myself to be included in pictures, something I normally don't do. My cousin is with me, she is making sure that I laugh and take pictures. I'm going to print up some pictures and put in my journal, alone with notes from each day gone, I'll be pulling that info from these posts because pretty soon the days will start to blend together.
I'm being mindful of my bank account and fuel level (filling up at 1/2 tank) , watching the oil levels in the car and taking things slowly. Right now, my biggest thing dealing with a travel partner that snores and whether or not the fan will block it out, but she's not as loud as some people I know so it's all good. She says I snore too but it's not loud, guess that means that my kids lied to me.
It's now 8:39 am, time to get some breakfast and get something done with school work, at least half of my assignment needs to be done sooner than later. We'll be getting the car loaded up around 10:30 or so and topping off the oil in the car before heading out.
No comments:
Post a Comment