Try New Places

Go someplace once a year where you've never been before.  That's a quote I saw on a photo recently.  My husband and I live by these words and I want to share just a little of my experience in hopes that you will be inspired to go someplace you've never been.

 

I shot this image one morning right outside our hotel room. What you don't see is the woman in the car closest to the curb started talking to us (in English!) while she was stuck in this very large traffic jam.  Seems the teachers there in Mexico City have been striking a lot and on days when they are protesting it makes the traffic worse than it already is. The driver rolled her eyes when she was explaining it and we laughed. MC is crammed-packed full of friendly people just like her. Who knew?

 

I believe fear is one of the biggest reasons people don't visit new places. It doesn't matter if it is a foreign country or a restaurant. For me, I fear wasting time and money.  We have our same old favorite standbys for eating out. No matter how many times we tell ourselves we've got to try something new, when Friday night rolls around and we decide to eat out, we end up either at one of two places. As far as foreign countries go, fear of a language barrier, fear of danger, and for me fear of bad food may be reasons to not go. I am dying to put more stamps on my visa! I would definitely visit MC again but why? There are so many other places to go.

 

Fear of people is another thing I think a lot of us suffer from. Someone once said to me, "Susan, don't you think everyone has fear of people"?  So it stands to reason, if I am afraid of you, perhaps you are afraid of me. Maybe, just maybe, if I crack a smile and extend a handshake we can find something in common to talk about.  See these dogs? Notice the little white dog trying to get out of his leash? Fear.  Once he did a little sniffing and realized the other dogs weren't going to rough him up, he quit resisting.

 

I'm a big fan of having favorite places to go when I need to just be surrounded by the familiar but I gotta tell you that nothing in the world makes me feel more alive than a little conquered fear of the unknown.

 

love, susan