Brilliant photographer Sean Fisher and I chose the coldest day of the year for this photo shoot, and to explore the Tennessee beauty outside the city. Sean is a driven and inspirational artist who I’m lucky to call a friend! (www.fisherai.com) He’s also one of my favorite IG follows: @mr.bootstraps

The pictures turned out beautifully thanks to Sean, but the story of that particular day is hysterically bad.

I woke up at 5am in a fit of stress about the amount that needed to be done as The Moxie Strings finished booking our summer months. I watched in annoyance as the sun came up over my laptop screen; it meant the world was waking up to get in the way of my productivity. Single-digit temps had caused the pipes to freeze the night before, which meant no showering and no flushing. We barely brushed our teeth. I am also particularly sensitive to the cold, so if there were two things I absolutely did NOT want to do that day, it was 1. go outside or 2. be in front of a camera.

A team of us hiked down a steep ravine to this beautiful train tunnel, then had our suspicions confirmed that it was an operating train track. At one point we were pressed against the cavern wall as a train roared by within inches of us (this was actually really cool.) The feeling in my hands and feet had disappeared within minutes of venturing out, not to return until later that evening. With soggy moccasins and the ache of numb limbs, we climbed out of the canyon and hurried to the car and its promise of relief… only to find the car had been towed. At that point we could only laugh and make friends with the sweet locals who came to our rescue. There’s always a good story behind the glamour, ya’ll!

Despite all that, I love that we were able to capture a particular winter beauty you might not expect to find in Tennessee, and that was hidden from the road by dense, brown woods. We had to go find it. The whole day was a exercise in seeing the beauty and excitement in otherwise very challenging scenarios, though honestly, it took me almost all day to finally get to this perspective.

Keeping a firm grasp on what’s important is a daily exercise for me, and not always easy. I plan to spend more time on this in future posts, because in this travel life there are ample opportunities to ask “is this worth worrying about?” and hopefully eventually saying: “wow, this is an amazing problem to have.”

A few posts ago I mentioned that the stress of uncertainty was most present for me last December after having committed to a big move, but with no idea where I was going. I found myself lying awake most nights worrying about the looming decision. I just hadn’t seen the right option yet, but the waiting was getting unbearable. Eventually I began to ask a totally new question: “do I need a home at all?” (link here) I can look back and see that this level of uncertainty was uncomfortable enough to hinder my day-to-day thought processes. Sound familiar? I can see why many people would prefer to make any decision, rather than suffer through the uncertainty. There’s power and excitement to be found at the dawn of a new adventure, but that can be pretty impossible to see at the time. (More to come on this.)

This concept and the theme of my last post (the importance of waiting for the truest option to present itself), all addresses the work before a decision, but I also think there’s a lot of mental work to be done afterwards. In fact, trusting your ability to commit to your choice and “make do” can relieve some of this prior worry. Perfectionist Diana (more here) insists on the prior research, but I admire those with the mental toughness to just “pick and commit.” I think we could all learn a little from each team. Regardless, once the decision has been made, there’s only one thing to do: commit and enjoy. And don’t look back! I “red flag” any statement in my head that starts with “I wish I had,” “If only…,” or “what we should’ve done, is…” Thoughts like these have no purpose other than to make me miserable when I should be enjoying my travels. If they do enter my brain, I make note of when they arise as an opportunity to learn for next time, then do everything I can to dismiss them. At that point I’ve committed, so it’s time to enjoy. Practicing and trusting in my process after decision relieves the pressure before the decision. It means you’ll be able to make it work.

My band (The Moxie Strings) has a great protocol of avoiding “should’ve” statements. A little band discussion and group awareness about this topic has been wildly helpful for more pleasant travel. On this day in Tennessee it would have been easy to spend the whole afternoon saying “I shouldn’t have committed to this” or “we should have picked another day,” but that would have made my day worse. More than that, by not saying them, my afternoon turned into a lovely exercise in seeing what’s important and being grateful for opportunities.

Here’s great book for this process:  “Stop Thinking. Start Living”.

Go forth drriifters! 💙🌏💨

Diana