Do the thing.
If there’s anything that I took away from my first trip out of this country, it really is something as simple as that.
Do the thing you’re afraid of, that makes you nervous, that hatches butterflies in your stomach, that is way out of your comfort zone.
Just do the thing.
Because you might just find that doing the thing fills your soul, brings you joy, makes you grow and changes your life for the better.
I thought I was afraid to fly. But then I found myself staring in awe at the waters below as the plane I was on crossed the Gulf of Mexico.
I thought I was nervous about spending a week in Mexico. But then I had one of the greatest weeks of my life with the woman I now know I will marry someday.
I thought the butterflies in my stomach would be flapping around like crazy. But they settled down as soon as I laid eyes on that very same woman for the first time in-person in 19 months.
I thought I was going to be out of my comfort zone in a country not my own. But I felt right at home somehow.
I know this section of the Record-Eagle is called Northern Living, but I sure enjoyed seven days of living south of the border. And I cannot wait to go back.
After I landed in Cancun and immediately changed out of the hoodie and sweatpants I was wearing when I left a snowy O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Mari and I left the airport for a bus station. Across the street from the hustle and bustle of that bus station, we stumbled into a joint that served the best tacos I have ever eaten. I cannot describe them any better than that. Simply the best.
The sounds of life — the cacophony of conversations, music, shrieking birds, sirens, motors, horns beeping — would normally be overwhelming to me, but I couldn’t help but just drink it all in and enjoy every second of it.
We finally arrived in her home city of Merida a little before 1 a.m. after a four-hour bus ride from Cancun and settled into our lodging. The next day was spent just wandering the city, eating Yucatecan food and experiencing the beauty of one of the most incredible cities I’ve ever visited.
We walked into one of the oldest cathedrals in both North and South America, the Catedral de San Ildefonso. Construction began in 1562 and was completed 36 years later. I felt like Indiana Jones hunting for the Grail in “The Last Crusade.” Honestly, my words cannot do justice to what my eyes saw and my soul felt as we stayed for a mass happening at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday.
After leaving the cathedral, my ears heard the most wonderful sounds coming from a street busker playing the violin. Mari and I stood there and listened, with tears in our eyes, for 20 minutes before getting his business card and letting him know we’d be booking his services for our future wedding.
The next day was filled with more food and more wandering. The day after, we ventured out of Merida to the small village of Homun, where we went cave diving and swimming in the unbelievably gorgeous cenotes for four hours. Yes, I was terrified while I was in the water of that first cave, but I got more comfortable the more time I spent just doing the thing that caused that fear.
Again, my words fail me and I cannot adequately or accurately describe what an incredible experience that was. It almost feels like a dream. I’m a writer, and I can’t find the right words because you have to be there to feel the magic.
That’s what I mean when I said at the beginning of this column to “do the thing.”
I spent so many years not doing the thing and allowing my fear and anxiety to stop me from experiencing life. I cannot live that way anymore. I have to do the thing when I have the opportunity.
Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to the next time I get the chance to turn my fears and anxieties into joy and growth.