High Anxiety Traveler Alert!

The crew and I are gettting ready for a BIG ADVENTURE!!! If you know us, you know all the juicy details of our trip, but for now I'm keeping things (online) on the DL because I'm a tad bit paranoid and a wee bit anxious! (UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR)

This, by far, has been the HARDEST trip I have ever planned and the HARDEST trip to pack for!! Once we get back home and I start posting blogs, you'll understand why! (Some of you might already know!)

In the meantime... here's a story:

In 8th grade math class my teacher had a “ticket” system. Each semester we would start out with 10 tickets and the tickets could be used throughout the semester as a "pass." If we forgot our homework, we could turn in a ticket and we wouldn’t get docked points. If we were late to class, we could turn in a ticket so we didn’t get a demerit. (You get the idea) At the end of the semester, if we didn’t use any of the tickets, they would count as bonus points or extra credit points towards our final grade.

I had science class right before math and one day our science class was doing a field trip... Sounds fun and exciting, right?! WRONG!!

I was so worried about the field trip running over and being late to math class. So much so that I couldn’t sleep the night before and I about made myself sick worrying over it.

Now, let’s take a step back and think about this for a second … the worst thing that could happen was that I would lose one ticket aka one extra credit point towards my grade at the end of the semester.  (I never ever used my tickets so losing one was a big deal at the time.)

1. We may or may not be late getting back
2. Even if we were late, the teacher liked me and I’m sure if I explained it was for a field trip he wouldn’t have even made me give up a ticket
3. And if he did… I would be down one extra credit point

Why am I telling you this story? I want to paint a picture of what it’s like to live with anxiety. In case you were wondering, we arrived back to school in plenty of time and this whole thing was a non-issue! 

I have about 10 of these books

This is the dumbest example... I know it seems SO SILLY, but in my mind (at the time) this was a very serious situation! 

Just last year, Mike and I went scuba diving. It was my first time diving and I was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND!!! The night before, I could barely sleep... which was silly because I KNEW:

1. I could sit through the class (training) the next day and decide not to dive.

2. I could go to the shallow end just to try it out and decide not to dive. 

3. NO ONE WAS MAKING ME DO THIS AND I HAD PLENTY OF "OUTS" 

Even though I LOGICALLY knew how silly I was being, I still had those feelings of anxiety!

So now imagine... me traveling anywhere. HOW DOES THAT WORK?!

Lots of prayers & careful planning.

As we get closer to departure I am way less anxious than I was a month ago. So many people have been praying alongside me and I am so grateful! Keep the prayers coming! 

You will be spammed with photos and blog posts soon enough, but for now: 

Daily Travel Affirmations (LOL)