Our lives are filled with journeys, every single day. There are two kinds of journeys, the external and internal kinds. External journeys might be adventures overseas, road trips with friends or a bike ride to work in the morning. Internal journeys can be how our mind chooses to remember our experiences, the relationship you have with yourself or our spiritual/mental well-being. This week, was my first week back home in Adelaide after a big trip overseas which was packed with stimulating external and internal experiences.

 

 

Returning to Adelaide

 

Returning to Adelaide since traveling for the better part of the last three years surfaces an array of feelings. I am always excited and extremely grateful to see my family and friends. However, on the flip-side, I often feel like I’m stuck in limbo and can’t wait to begin the next phase or overseas adventure.  I think it’s important that we appreciate the triumphs and the difficulties of our journeys – just as a hiker might record the mountain they conquered, or what they learned from not packing the correct equipment. Returning to Adelaide is one of the difficulties of the journey for me, both externally and internally. Externally, at times I  struggle to stay still and slow down. I find it hard choosing how to delegate my time, between my own/towards projects and catching up with everyone I haven’t seen for a while. Internally, returning from such hyper-stimulating places can be tough. I like to work on mindfulness, and making sure I am still aligning with the goals I set for myself at the start of the year. Upon returning, I always try and build a structure for my days as soon as I can. Whilst traveling, although it may not be apparent, my days are often very structured; breakfast, run, gym, adventure, edit photos, write a blog and then head to sleep. Although there is a lot of spontaneity, there is a structure in the form of research and daily goals that I want to achieve. I find it extremely important that I implement the same/similar structure into my days when I’m back home so I don’t fall into the lull of not knowing what to do once returning from a big trip.

 

 

 

Variety

Variety is imperative for personal growth because it often welcomes the unknown, new challenges and forces us to problem solve. It keeps our mind firing new thoughts and pushes us to be creative. By adding variety to our life, in the forms of activities, what we read, things we observe, it promotes imaginative thinking.

This week was far from a typical week of adventures, but in retrospect, it was still a very big week.

 

Ocean was still incredibly blue despite the stormy weather.

The Big Three

Here’s why I wasn’t out taking as many photos as I usually do.

1. I launched my book WHY DON’T YOU? Thoughts worth thinking

IT’S OUT. You can now buy my book off Amazon, make sure you’re browsing amazon from your home country! For my Australian readers, you can buy my book from this link!

https://www.amazon.com.au/Why-dont-you-Thoughts-Thinking/dp/1921547987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533615952&sr=8-1&keywords=why+don%27t+you+joshua+lynott

CLICK HERE TO GET MY BOOK! 

Five things I want people to take away from my book.
1. Appreciate the small things in life, they are infinitely the most important and will without a doubt be the moments you remember later in life.
2. Go and do what you love, the world needs more people doing what they love.
3. Make sure you do the things you do, to make you happy, not others.
4. Take a risk, nothing exciting ever happens in your comfort zone.
5. Be present, right now is your time.

 

Cold, but a little glow out.

 

2. I gave my first ever presentation

 

There’s a first time for everything, and this certainly won’t be the last. Public speaking and presenting are two skills I am looking forward to developing. I presented to Adelaide Walkers Club about my travels, my favorite destinations, my approach to life and why I chose to live the way I do. I spoke about how people will push their opinions onto me about places I am going, and reasons why I shouldn’t go. This happens to me frequently, but it’s usually these places that turn out to be my favourite. I spoke about not needing much money to travel far, and that if you are frugal with your spending and you can go away a lot longer and further than first anticipated. People are incredibly great, and we when we allow yourself to make genuine human connections, both at home or in the middle of a random country, people will look after you. It may be a couch they lend you or a spare seat in a car, but you will find by opening yourself to the world, you allow the world to take care of you in ways you didn’t think possible. My take away point from the presentation was from an old man afterward when he said to me “I like what you’re doing kid, go as far as you can, whilst you can!”

 

3. Ran a new 5km personal best.

 

After running the Bali Hope Ultra in May, I returned to my plan of jogging consistently week in, week out. Over the course of the 9 weeks which followed on from the Bali Hope Ultra, I worked my training load up to 70km a week. All of this was slow, low intensity running which happened to include a lot of Panamanian hills and a week in altitude whilst in Bogota. I had done no ‘speed sessions’ which meant by fitness base was built purely of low-intensity work. I have decided to train this way to build strength in my legs, practice discipline and to allow my body to recover quicker which results in me being able to run more. Like anything, the more you do of any certain skill, the better you get.

I ran in a 5km race in Adelaide on the weekend to gauge where my fitness was after the multiple training camps Jackson and I did in Panama. My goal for the race was to break my previous PB of 16.50 (3:22min/km).

It was a quick race, with a very strong field of runners. I love being in fields with people much better than me because it pushes me to be quicker. The official race time was 16.21, a 29 second PB! I was very happy with this run and the fitness I have built whilst backpacking and traveling this year.

 

Deep in the hurt locker.

 

I snuck in a little adventure amongst all the rain and wild winds this week, so here are a few snaps. As you can gather, this week was a very different one for me but very happy with the progress I made in various aspects of my life. I look forward to the challenges ahead as I market my book and travel to Russia at the end of the month.

 

 

Big Love,

JL

Observe as much as you can. Go as far as you can. See as much as you can. – Joshua Lynott

 

 

 

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