Car or No Car?

Now, a lot of people have asked me whether or not I will bring my car on this expedition. Up until now, that answer has always been a strong “no”. However, now that I have some nomadic experience under my belt, I have started to consider the option of bringing my car.

I just moved out of Provo and into my parent’s house in W. Jordan. So, my two weeks of nomadic beta-testing have successfully finished, and now it’s crunch time. I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to have to hitchhike everywhere and always still some place else. Now I can use that experience to determine whether I should make any changes to the game plan.

As far as a car is concerned, there are certain reasons why a car would be helpful. I think the question really comes down to what my main purpose of the trip is. Well, one of the things that I am looking forward to on the trip is freedom. You know, I have all of my possessions in a backpack, so I can get up and go whenever I feel like it. However, my freedom is actually limited to my ability to get assistance from others.

One of the things I was thinking about is how when I stay with people, I feel obligated to spend time with my hosts. I mean, most of the time when people invite me to stay at their house, they probably are doing it for the experience of having me there, and use becoming acquainted. I’ll have many great stories to tell, and if they are up for taking me out on the town, then we could do that. However, some nights, I may just want to go exploring on my own. If I’m staying with somebody, I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming back at 1 in the morning. But, if I have my own car, I could always just crash in my car, so I could plan on staying out later certain nights.

I also see a car being very handy if I want to go on dates or what not. Obviously, people will understand my lack of transportation when I’ve explained my trip idea. But, trying to take girls out on dates without a car is just much more difficult.

The thing I like about not having a car is that I’m never tied down. I mean, if I want to fly from California to Florida, I then have to worry about where to put my car and how to get it back. So, having a car will limit my options as far as that is concerned.

Another thought is that I will still probably do a lot of the same things if I have a car. I’ll still try to hitchhike as much as possible because it’s cheaper, and it’s fun to meet people every day. I’ll still want to stay at people’s houses, because sleeping in a car every night just can’t be that comfortable. I’ll still want to go to work with different people and learn about occupations and locations.

I guess the question just comes down to what my purpose for this trip is. To me, the idea of hitchhiking around the country just sounds way cooler and is way fun to tell people. But, will it be easier for me to achieve my objectives with or without a car? One of my thoughts is that if I want to stay and live in a place for a month or two, I could easily do that with a car. Once I find what I want to do, I can just park and stay there. Whereas, if I don’t have  a car, I would have to arrange how to get my car eventually.

If my purpose is genuinely to find something else to do in my life, then it seems like taking a car would be a better option. It would give me a lot more flexibility to stop and live in a place if I feel like it’s a good fit. However, if my purpose is really to have an adventure, then going without my car is probably a better fit. Having a car definitely takes out some of the fear and anxiety which I was excited about, but it might be a more practical way to accomplish what I’m actually looking to get out of this trip.

Entrepreneurship Baby

My birthday party was a success. I didn’t have quite as many people there as I would have liked, but it was still pretty good. I’m sure if I was going to school and I was more involved in the Provo social life, that I would have had a better turn out, but that’s alright.

Now, it’s time for me to start getting focused on my blog. I just registered the domains Grad2Nomad and GradToNomad.com. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get the blog hosted with my own hosting, but it’s hard because of my limited technological knowledge. I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon. Once I get it up and running, I will be able to start marketing it.

Also, I’ve had some renewed interest in RateMySummerSalesJob.com. I think that’s because my main interest is in starting businesses. As I think about the different careers I want, I really just want to start businesses. If I work in a career, the main requirements that I’ll look for are the ability to be extremely flexible so that it will allow me to be an entrepreneur.

Anyway, I’ve been talking with Todd Knight about helping with the rating website. He says he’s interested, but I’m going to try and get the Romanians to fix what they can first. I want to get that up and running before I leave so that I can also market it while I’m out and about. Well, I’m really loving life now, and I’m really interested in getting out and being social again. Now that I’m having some direction in my life, it helps me to be more confident in my personal life.

Pride and Passion

I feel great right now. I’m so excited about my birthday party on Thursday. I’ve been calling and talking to lots of people that I haven’t talked to in a while. It’s weird how I feel like I have to have a reason to rekindle friendships with people. It’s like, when I have no direction in my life and I’m not proud of what I’m doing, I’m not as interested in being social and hanging out with friends. Now that I’ve made a decision about what I’m doing, and I’m really excited about it, I love people. I want to see all the friends that I haven’t seen lately. I want to throw a big bday party, which I’ve never done before.

I think that is a good indicator of whether or not my choices are good. There are things that I do that I’m really proud of and that I love talking about with other people. If I’m ever doing something that I’m ashamed of or that I don’t want to share with others, then it’s probably a good indicator that I’m not passionate about it. One of the biggest things that has kept me hopping from one job to the other is that I don’t look forward to what I’m doing. I don’t wake up excited to go to work. Right now, that’s how I am. I’m not excited to go to my sales job or to go work at Runner’s Corner. Once I’m there and I start making sales, I’m really excited about that fact, but I’m never excited to go to work.

That translates into what I tell people. I remember when I worked for Qualtrics, my friend Ty said that I never sounded excited about it. He said that whenever I talked to anyone about it, I was almost ashamed of it. He was right. I wasn’t excited about it and I wasn’t proud of what I was doing. So, for me to be happy about what I’m doing, it needs to be something I’m proud of and that I would love to tell anyone about. That seems to be one of the best indicators of whether or not I’m making good professional decisions. I can probably use that as a forethought. I should ask myself when contemplating any decision if it’s the type of thing I would be proud of.

Go by foot or car?

The more I’ve thought about traveling, the more confused I’ve become as to whether or not it will really solve the problem. In reality, I just want to feel fulfilled and happy, and I just haven’t felt that way since I’ve graduated. I look back at these last few months, and they have kind of been a waste. I haven’t really done a whole lot, and I just have not been happy with any of the jobs I have. Upon further reflection of this unsatisfied feeling, I’m wondering if a lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m in Provo. I have loved Provo for the last couple of years, but now that I’m graduated, I just don’t feel like I fit here anymore. I think it’s time for me to move on.

So, it may not even be the fact that I’ve hated the jobs I’ve had, although I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed all of them. It could be more that I’m just restless and ready to move on, and I won’t be completely happy with what I’m doing until I pick up and go.

I also think that my feeling of satisfaction has a lot to do with my social life. That is something that is really struggling here in Provo. It’s weird, but for me, the longer I am in one place, the less social I am. When I’m new, I’m extremely outgoing and much less shy. The more comfortable I get and the longer I live in one place, the more reserved I become. It’s like I have that feeling in the beginning that I really don’t care what people think, but then the longer I’m in a place, I care more and more what people think. So, for my social life, it actually might be the best thing for me to go move somewhere else.

After thinking about all these things, I really do think it would be in my best interest to move in December. Now, it’s deciding how I want to move. Do I want to just drop off all my stuff at my parent’s house and be a wanderer on my own with no money? Or, do I decide where I want to move to and drive there and start my life there. Well, one problem is that I really haven’t been to many places in the country, so I don’t really have any specific place in mind that I’d like to live. There is a company in Salt Lake that I’d like to work for, but, I don’t know, that just seems so uneventful. I wonder if I’ll still feel the same restless feeling if I’m living in Salt Lake.

I’ve also been thinking about all the experiences I’ve had that have contributed to my growing desire to get out and see more of the country. My very first experience was in the MTC, when one of my teachers was talking about how he worked for an airline, and every weekend he would just fly to a country and hang out there for a few days. I thought that sounded so fun and so I wanted to do the same thing when I got back. Then, last summer Josh Pratt mentioned how he would like to hitchhike across the country. Once again, I thought that sounded so much fun and I was completely down for the idea. Then, there were some trips that I went on that made me realize how much I love going on trips and just having to figure things out. When I went to a national park with Josh Pratt and Chelsea that we didn’t plan on going to. Then, there was the time I was going to Disneyland, but because of a car crash I ended up spending the weekend in Cedar City. Those trips were so much fun because I didn’t know how things were going to be when I went on the trip.

In conclusion, I’ve pretty much decided that I need to move somewhere. But the questions still remains whether or not I want to move with my car and possessions somewhere, or if I want to completely rough it, and just kind of wander and explore the country. Hmmm, I’ll have to reflect more on this…