Why this is no longer a quest

Last updated on March 18, 2022

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up, travel quote

The word quest has been niggling at me for some time now. Before we left, I was delighted with it. Yes, we were on a quest around the planet to find the answer to how we wanted to live in this world โ€“ to find what makes us happy โ€“ to, dare I say it, find ourselves. But something isn’t sitting right with that statement now. It implies there’s an endpoint and a definitive answer to who we are and what we want, when actually it’s a state that lives in constant flux. All we really know is what we want now โ€“ the quest to find a way to live ended the moment we woke up to that and stepped out of our lives in London. Before that moment, we were dreaming of ‘something else’, but now we’re living that dream.

The Journey is the Destination, inspiring travel quote

In England, I knew I wasn’t happy in my job. I didn’t enjoy the 9-5, and I felt claustrophobic in a city I’d lived in for nearly 10 years. I felt the pull of safety, yet I yearned for something else. The idea of travelling almost seemed cliched, even though it’s something I’d dreamed of for years. I think the English culture is often prone to rolling its eyes at the idea of ‘living the dream’ โ€“ it seems so American we might say. Sometimes I wondered if I was trying to escape. Was travelling a way of jumping off an inevitable merry-go-round โ€“ a way to run away from life’s responsibilities? Despite these doubts, it never felt like that. I wanted to travel to face and enjoy life, not to run from it.

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us, inspiring travel quote

But what did I expect from travelling? Why did I want to do it? I think when we left, I had the idea that travelling was another stage in life, something we’d do before settling down. I wanted to see the world but I’d also fitted it into the idea of a loose life plan. Somewhere along the way we’d find the answer of what that ‘settling down’ would look like โ€“ where we’d live and the jobs we’d have. I was still waiting to ‘grow up’ and know what to do with my life. As we go along, I still think about these things, but I’ve stopped waiting for the answer. This is what I’m doing with my life. There is no ‘destination grown-up’.

A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving, Lao Tsu, inspiring travel quote

That’s not to say I know everything and that there is nothing to ‘quest’ for. Far from it. Every day I learn about myself and the world. It’s a constant journey and I have no idea where its taking us.

If You Don't Knowwhere you're going, any road will take you there, inspiring travel quote

It may turn out that we find a place we want to call home, or a job that seems like ‘the one’. We might return to London or instead travel endlessly. We might have children, or that moment may never come. Any of these options is possible. But what’s important is now. In this moment, we are travelling and working because we want to. We listened to ourselves and made a choice. We chose what we wanted to do, rather than what we thought we should, and that in itself feels like happiness.

Don't be afraid to give yourself everything you've ever wanted in life, inspiring travel quote

Some may say “Of course, you love what you’re doing, you’re gallivanting around the world”, but that is to frame our journey as a holiday. We are both working hard to find a way to make a living. Steve is making a feature film, and we’re both launching companies and making websites and apps. Oftentimes we work past midnight โ€“ it’s not all glaciers, whales and wine tours, but we love the fact that, in the off-time, those things are options. Life is short but wide. There is so much to see, and mixing work and travel is our dream. It’s not for everyone, but right now it’s definitely for us.

No Matter where you go, there you are, inspiring travel quote

So there is my long-form answer to why we’re removing the word quest from our ‘about us’ blurb. We are no longer on a quest to find a way to live. We’ve already found the destination โ€“ living our dreams around the world.

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Five weeks to go! Love, love, love!

Feel free to share these travel quotes and photos that Steve created. 

15 thoughts on “Why this is no longer a quest”

  1. Such a good post! So honest and accompanied so well with your beautiful pictures and quotes – loved it! I think that as the long as the ‘quest’ is to find the paths you wish to take in life, it doesn’t have to be a bad word. After all, a quest, like a journey, is what you make of it ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Thank you Toni. Pleased you like it. You’re right, ‘quest’ doesn’t need to be a bad word at all. It just didn’t fit with the journey we’re on right now. That’s not to say the journey isn’t full of many mini quests ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  2. Beautiful post and all the quotes are so true. When we set off on our trip we were also on a quest, but at some point, we decided just to live in the moment rather than keep looking for something we might not even find.

    I love the quote ‘We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us’.

    Reply
    • Exactly. I think a similar thing must happen to lots of people. By the way, I really enjoyed your tops and flops post.

      Reply
  3. Beautiful post as always. And you’re right, it doesn’t matter what you call this journey you are both on – all that really matters is that you are on it, and you keep your heart and mind open to whatever may come your way ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  4. I already knew about you guys but my sad confession is, I haven’t spent much time on your blog. Then, today on Facebook I saw (and reshared) your quote about comparing and yoga. That has led me to your blog for perusal. Which has led me to this post. Which has made me wonder why I don’t visit more often.

    This was just what I needed today. Thank you for sharing your lives with us and allowing us to be inspired by what you discover as you live the dream so many only ever think about.

    Reply
    • Hi Kirsten, I think we met on the bridge on the last night at TBEX. Thanks so much for your kind words. I’m delighted you like the blog, and I’m pleased this post was of help. The thing I really strive for with the blog is honesty, and it’s wonderful when that resonates with people. Thanks also for sharing the quote. I hope our paths cross again at some point.

      Reply
  5. Wow. That’s all I can say. Wow. If I were writing what I’m presently feeling, that’s how I’d say it. So eloquent. So simple, yet so profound. I believe there are no coincidences, and “coming across” your blog is just what I needed to do. You have inspired me more than you could know. Thank you for living your dreams. Because of that, I just may go out and live mine.

    Reply
  6. Hi there,
    I absolutely love the quote ‘we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us’!
    so you know who said it?
    x

    Reply
  7. Love this post it’s so true. If you don’t love what you’re doing it’s not worth doing! Sometimes it is harder, as I’m finding out with my humanitarian travel website but so far it has been completely worth it!

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  8. I’m quite addicted to quotes myself and this is a neat selection indeed! I think the essence of all of them is pretty much how to show how easy it actually is โ€“ daring to be happy… So keep on keeping on! ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
  9. Thank you for sharing such lovely inspirational messages. All of them are so true. Maybe this is what we learn from traveling, or confirms what we already knew. Fantastic :-).

    Reply

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