They say you never stop learning or growing. As such I like to consider myself a student of life. Yet there are some things that I must admit, I seem to need to learn over and over again. Although I like to think of myself as a reasonably intelligent individual that picks up things quickly, one of the most difficult life lessons for me has been to not compromise my own needs in order to fulfill everyone else’s. That’s not to say that you should be neglectful of anyone, but I think we need to be mindful of our own needs first.
Case in point–when my partner and I started up our travel club, we both ran ourselves ragged trying to market, network and gain members. We tried to appease to everyone else’s needs while ignoring our own. Suffice it to say, we failed miserably. Not only were we unable to meet everyone else’s needs regarding cost, scheduling, and itineraries, but we were becoming increasingly unhappy ourselves.
Then out of frustration, we decided not to worry so much about what everyone else wanted and to focus on our own wants and needs. We sat down and came up with a list of trips and events that we both had a strong desire to pursue. Then we set deadlines and dates to “execute” those plans agreeing that no excuses would be accepted from either of us. We are still in awe of how that single decision changed everything. The transformation in our club has been nothing short of miraculous.
We began planning local events and activities that we liked and our membership base grew. We hosted a skydiving event last weekend and the turnout was amazing. From that event, we picked up over a dozen people who will be traveling with us to Costa Rica in two months. That’s right — two months. I would never have thought we could put an international trip together that quick, but here we are, doing just that.
We found that the common denominator was a simple recipe consisting of a love for adventure, laughter, camaraderie and most importantly, following our own hearts desires.
So the lesson I had to re-learn is this –To Thine Own Self Be True! Follow your own dreams and desires and trust that the rest will fall into place if only you persist!
April Scarlott is a lifetime Houston Bay Area resident, travel and adventure junkie, and member of the International Travel Writers and Photography Alliance. She attended college at the University of St. Thomas and currently holds multiple licenses in real estate and is a member of OSSN. She is full partner for Thrillseekers Travel Club which arranges group tours for other travel and adventure enthusiasts. She has combined her passion for writing and adventure travel into a full time dream career. Contact her at april@thrillseekerstravel.com or toll free at 1-888-970-8747 or visit at the website at www.thrillseekerstravelclub.com.
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