The times they are a-changin’.

Whether we’re ready for it or not, the world, and subsequently our lives, are constantly changing.  Sometimes it’s great change that we strive to attain, but other times it’s change that blind sides us at the most inopportune moments.  I’ve formed some bad habits about viewing the latter as bad change; but it’s not.  It really just depends on learning to anticipate, accept, and then appreciate change.

Here’s what’s packed into The Bindle this week:

• How to Build the Muscle of Change
• The Power of Positive Thinking: 22 Thoughts to Change Your Life
• How to Deal With Change

Do you have an interesting or entertaining link of your own?  Share it with the rest of us in the comments below, post them to our Facebook page, or shoot me an email from our contact page.

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How to Build the Muscle of Change

Learning to deal with change is just like working out.  Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution to hit up the gym that fizzles out a few weeks later?  We have these big ambitions and start off doing a lot right at the beginning, only to lose interest a short time later.  But just like training your muscles, you need to exercise your mind with small, consistent action.  One small step, then another, then another…

The Power of Positive Thinking: 22 Thoughts to Change Your Life

Change is all about mindset.  If we resist, nothing is gained.  But if we take on a new, positive outlook we are guaranteed to learn something new that will help us in the future.  Take a quick look at these 22 positive thoughts that will help you see the bright side of change.

How to Deal With Change

Opportunities come and go every day.  Sometimes things change exactly as we anticipated, and other times the results are unexpected.  Either way, there is something to learn.  In this article James Altucher discusses 4 great tips to deal with change.

What if you are exactly where you’re meant to be?

What if every single moment that has led up to this point in time needed to happen exactly as it did?

What if every triumphant, happy, giggling, laughing, crying, disappointing, upsetting, terrifying, incredible, and euphoric moment was necessary for you to become who you are right now?

Would that relieve any of the anxiety and nervousness you feel at times?

Perfect.  Because it’s all true.

Take comfort in knowing that right now, at this very moment, you are exactly where you‘re meant to be.  If you weren’t, then you would be somewhere else.

Keep Drifting.

It was a cold winter’s day in the middle of January.  I could see my breath in the frosty air as I stepped off the train in downtown London.  My heart had finally stopped pounding from the close call I had at the immigration desk back at Heathrow Airport.  Apparently landing in England with a one-way ticket, no place to stay, and no definite travel plans raises suspicion among the immigration officers in customs.  This whole travel-to-Europe thing started off with a bang.

The airport, the train, and the train station were all environments related to traveling; the coming and of going from one place to the next.  Nothing felt real just yet.  It wasn’t until I took that first step out into the city that the gravity of the situation finally hit me like a pillow case full of bricks to the face.

I wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

I immediately paused, stopped dead in my tracks, and found myself repeating “don’t shit your pants, don’t shit your pants, don’t shit your pants,” over and over in my head.  It was all I could do to keep myself from defecating inside one of the only two pairs of pants I had packed.  Aside from having to do laundry on my first day abroad, pooping my pants was not going to encourage strangers to help me.

“Oh dear, Henry, it appears that young hobo didn’t quite make it to the loo in time.  Well, I would like to help him, but that stench is unbearable.  Don’t make eye contact!  Hurry, let’s carry on our way.”

I was now in a foreign country without a return ticket home, no definite place to stay, and the map I grabbed from the train station was of no practical use.  What in God’s name did I just get myself in to?  Did I honestly just sell all of my possessions, abandon an apartment one block from the ocean, and leave behind all of my friends and a beautiful woman so I could get lost in a foreign country?

Yes.

That is exactly what I had done.  I needed to accept that fact or this was going to be an extremely short and unpleasant journey.  So, when I have no idea what to do next, I act as if I do.  I put one foot in from of the other and just started walking.  Sooner or later an idea would have to pop in my head.

Before long, I spotted a McDonald’s and noticed a sign in the window, “free wifi.”  Bingo.  Luckily I packed my laptop so I could update HoboDrifter for my friends and family back home.  I hopped online, browsed through the local hostels on hostelworld.com and booked my room for the night.  Boom.  Just like that I had a place to stay and things were looking up.

The next six days in London was much of the same: finding a new place to stay, looking up attractions and things to do, then going off and exploring the city.  In just seven days I had established a sort of template for how the rest of my travels through Europe would go.  I refined certain aspects here and there as I crossed off more and more cities from my list.  For example, I would always look for the hostels that had breakfast included.  Even if that meant getting up at 6 AM to enjoy what was often times a mediocre spread of partially stale bread and miniature wheels of cheese.  Hell, I didn’t care, it was food.  More importantly, it was food I could wrap up in napkins and shove in my backpack.  That’s two meals rolled into the price of accommodations; that’s being a HoboDrifter.

I met travelers along the way and we would share stories over a beer or two of all the crazy happenings and odd people we had encountered during our journey.  We would exchange tips and tricks we had learned in hopes that our mishaps and failures would help our fellow backpackers avoid future trouble.  Typically, a day or two was spent with my new best friends gallivanting about town and then we would part ways.  Despite only having known them for a short while, it was always difficult to leave a newfound friend after all we had shared together in a foreign world.  That was one of the saddest but most beautiful parts of my adventure; just another part of enjoying the journey.

We always find what we are looking for, as long as we keep our eyes and our mind open.

The basis for my entire European adventure was to travel, experience different cultures, and ultimately discover more about who I am.  Each and every one of those expectations was exceeded.

I was nearing the end of my journey when I found myself at the very southern tip of Spain in a small coastal town named Tarifa.  I was collecting sea shells on the beach as the sun slowly sank toward the ocean.  As the gap between sun and sea gradually disappeared, I found myself mesmerized by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever witnessed.  There was a song playing on my iPod that fit perfectly with the myriad of emotions that had suddenly taken control of my body.  It felt as if, for a brief moment, everything was exactly as it was meant to be.  The stars had aligned, the puzzle pieces seamlessly fit together, and all doubt had been eradicated from my mind.  My heart was overwhelmed with joy as tears began streaming down my face.  It had all been worth it.  Every sacrifice I had made up to that point, every person and everything I had left behind was a necessary part of the journey that had lead me to that exact location at precisely the right time.  While the experience only lasted a short while, it felt like a lifetime had passed while immersed in such a euphoric state.

I had discovered what I was seeking in an unexpected form; it changed my life forever.  As I have found with any adventure, we never know when or where a moment of clarity will present itself.  But it is not our job to search for the time and place in which that experience will occur; merely keep our heart, mind, and eyes open to the opportunities that expose themselves to us.  And once we recognize those opportunities, it is upon us to find the strength within to take action and pursue our dreams.

“All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer.”
            – Niccolo Machiavelli

Do you feel stronger already?

Keep Drifting.