Life Is Not a Bus Tour

It’s a dangerous and wonderful adventure.

It was impossible to change the temperature. At least that’s what the bus driver said. I had my doubts, but I did my best to sleep in what felt like sub-zero temperatures as the bus sped and twisted through the mountainous roads of Colombia’s interior. Hours later, we arrived at a place for breakfast. Time to thaw out and take care of my, now sick, child.

Bus tours are an inexpensive way to see the sights. And that’s about all they are. Someone else decides where you go, what route you’ll take to get there, and where you’ll stop along the way. They bring you to the restaurant that gives them kickbacks and stop for the bathroom break at their distant cousin’s gift shop.

Life is not a bus tour. It’s a dangerous and wonderful adventure.

Your life is not determined by anyone else. Unfortunately, conditions created by other human beings — like poverty, cultural norms, and environmental conditions — can affect your life, but they don’t have to determine it. And even in the most horrific situations, we have the miraculous ability to change our perspective and feel happy even when others may wish us ill.

Unlike the bus tour, adventure is filled with the unknown. You might get lost, run out of money, and break your leg. But you’ll be experiencing life, and not a cheap knockoff.

You can wake up each day and look at life as an adventure filled with danger, beauty, and possibility, or you can look at it as a bus tour — a planned out serious of predetermined stops where people tell you what to buy and what to do.

You don’t need to follow the bus tour model. You can change most things about your life today. It’s true that some people have loads more freedom than others, but we all have more freedom than we often assume or feel that we have.

So get off the bus today and embrace the adventure of (your) life.

If you liked this article, you might also like to read this article I wrote: “A Simple Four-Step Process for Overcoming Negative Feelings”