Tag Archive for 'awareness'

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How your Couchsurfing Host’s environment can Wreck You (or Heal You)

Published 2010/06/18 by Andrew Adi C. with 1 Comment
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Have you ever realized how profoundly your choice of who you stay with affects you when you travel?

Yes, staying with friends is a great way to save money when visiting a new city. In fact, I highly recommend it; but I stress the importance of being really aware of the particular lifestyle and habits (good or bad) of any person you choose to stay with. If I’ve said it once, I’ve probably said it a hundred times: Be really aware of how where you stay and who you say with can affect you when you travel.

Being aware of how your host’s place and personality affect you can mean the difference between a stressful trip or an enjoyable one.

Being aware is highly important because where you stay will have a profound effect on your sleep patterns, eating habits, and emotional state. In fact, your decision about where you stay is the single most powerful factor over how you enjoy (or don’t enjoy) your time in a new place.

Why is this effect so profound?

Here’s why: the daily habits and attitudes of your host will influence you considerably, probably more than you’d care to admit; and that influence will become more pronounced the longer you stay with that person (or group of people, even). I speak from personal experience. In fact, to illustrate this I’m going to share a few stories from my own experiences so you know what to be aware of. And, if you’re a really intelligent person capable of learning from another person’s mistakes, you can save yourself some strife along the way, too.

Early Riser or Night Owl? You decide.

A great example of how a host can influence you can be found in analyzing sleeping patterns. Once when staying with a friend in Chicago who habitually woke up around sunrise, I started to notice something interesting. After a couple days, I realized that my friend’s sleeping habits were rubbing off on me, and I was waking up earlier than I had in months.

I’ve since seen this kind of pattern over and over, including the opposite. Once when I was in California, I became somewhat of a night owl and had trouble waking up before 10AM, all because my social environment (i.e., the person I was staying with) affected my sleeping habits over time.

In fact, this entire article is a testament to how profoundly your environment affects your life. Your environment can either go against or reinforce habits that you’d like to have. And when you’re travelling, it’s much easier to see these effects because the act of travelling itself produces changes in your environment more quickly than everyday life, making it easier for you to compare and infer which habits are affected. And in my experience, it’s the fastest way to learn more about yourself.

Watch Your Plate!

Eating habits are also affected, although perhaps not as profoundly. Obviously, your eating habits are going to be influenced by who you spend time with when you travel, who you visit, and what kind of crowd you prefer to be with when travelling. If your host eats out at restaurants often, you’ll feel a pull to go out more often. And if they eat out nearly exclusively (yes, I’ve met a few people like this), you probably won’t be pleased at the spartan-like state of their kitchen if you enjoy cooking as I do.

Conversely, if you stay with a friend who enjoys cooking, you’ll probably save money and have some fun. Perhaps you’ll even get to cook together, and that can be a wonderful experience.

This applies to special diets, as well.

If you hold yourself to a certain nutritional standard, like being vegetarian or vegan, for instance, it could be more challenging if you’re staying with a friend who doesn’t follow the same standards.

This applies to alcohol and any other substances, as well. If you want to quit smoking, then it’s definitely not a good idea to stay with a smoking friend of yours because you’ll be faced with constant temptation. Or if you want to cut down on your alcohol consumption, then it probably wouldn’t be wise to stay with someone who finishes a bottle of wine every. single. night.

Not that I’ve ever met anyone like that, or anything. ;)

But I have Confession to Make

Actually, I have a confession to make. (And as much as I hate to shatter any of your fantasies, the confession not about alcohol consumption. In fact, I’m somewhat of a light-weight when it comes to alcohol, and rarely drink anything alcoholic. Alcohol has never really resonated with who I am or fit in with my vision of the person I’d like to become. So I guess I’ve never felt a big attraction to it. However, I don’t have negative feelings for people who feel differently, either.)

No, my confession is about fish.

As you may have noticed from the Vegetarian badge on the right sidebar, I’m vegetarian. Well, last year I slipped a bit and tried some high-quality fish while I was staying in Portland, Oregon. Some friends of mine were raving about it; so, in the spirit of travel and exposing myself to new experiences, I decided to try some Alaskan haddock that a friend of a friend had personally caught off the coast of Alaska. At least, I think it was haddock… anyway I didn’t die. Aren’t you glad? Me, too.

So last year I slipped in my commitment to being vegetarian. I learned that even though I strongly believe being vegetarian is healthier for my body and certainly more sustainable, I’m not immune to outside influence, and I’m certainly not perfect.

But that’s okay, because I grew from the experience.

However, the Most Profound Effect is…

Yet there is an effect even more profound than effects to your sleeping or eating patterns. I’ve come to realize the most profound effect that someone can have on me while I’m travelling is that their overall emotional state and attitude (what some might call their vibe) will have a profound impact on how I feel while I’m staying at their place. This applies when you’re just spending time with someone, of course, but the effect is even stronger if someone is hosting you at their place for a few nights.

For instance, I’ve visited friends when they were going through difficult times, such as after a breakup from a relationship or when someone they care about is having health issues; and I’m careful to keep in mind that this person is obviously not going to be at their best if they’re in a depressing or frustrating situation. In those situations, I have the opportunity to show them the bright side of life again and gently remind them to focus on the positive aspects of their life.

Although it may seem brain-dead simple on the surface (and you’ve probably heard it before), it’s worth reiterating:

The overall emotional attitude of the people you spend time with most will have a profound impact on your own attitude, and this effect will either have a negative or positive affect on your own emotional health.

What is the solution?

So how do you successfully avoid being derailed from a path that’s important to you? How do you avoid being unwittingly turned into a night-owl… or worse?

The answer may seem obvious by now: be mindful of who you spend time with when travelling, and be especially mindful of who you decide to stay with.

Habits are contagious.

This truth can work against you, and it can also work for you.

If waking up early is important to you, be aware that if you stay with a friend who’s a chronic night-owl, it will be a challenge to keep your early riser habit. I’m not saying it will be impossible, but it will be quite challenging. Even if you’ve cultivated a lot of self-discipline, it won’t be nearly as enjoyable retaining the habit than if you’d stayed with a friend who had sleeping habits that are a closer match to yours. If that’s not possible, the best way to shield yourself from another person’s habits is to not be around them when the habit in question comes into play.

This applies to food and emotional habits, as well. And all of this also highlights why it’s important to be very mindful when choosing your friends in the first place, because, as I said before, the emotional attitude of the people you spend the most time with will have a profound impact on your own beliefs, habits, and attitude.

Habits are contagious. And while this can work against you, it can also work for you. So if you want to become an early riser or try being vegetarian, for example, you should consider staying with a friend who possesses the qualities you want to experiment with. By exposing yourself to an environment that already possesses the qualities you’d like to have, it is much easier to change your own habits. Or to put it another way, repeated exposure to any person results in the belief systems and attitudes of each person affecting the other. As I said before, it is possible to shield yourself from another person’s habits by limiting exposure to the person when that specific habit comes into play, but that is certainly not a perfect shield. Habits are contagious over repeated exposure — in both directions, actually.

Examine Your Own Life

If you examine your own life, you’re bound to find some lessons in your past. Is there a person you’ve stayed with in the past that had habits that worked against you? Have anyone else’s good habits reinforced yours? Have you ever tried a new perspective while travelling because your host provided more support than if you’d been alone?

By understanding how habits can be contagious while travelling, we can have a much better experience. Can you think of any time where habits worked against you (or with you) while travelling? Has someone ever transformed you into a nocturnal creature?

- Bonus -
Here’s an article that was pointed out to me that features some more hosting-specific advice. Recommended if you’re at all interested in hosting: CouchSurfing: Tips for a Smooth Experience from our friends at BootsnAll.

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How to write Powerful Travel Articles that Matter

Published 2010/04/07 by Andrew Adi C. with 1 Comment
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As a creative individual, what’s your mission?

Does the concept of Oneness relate to travel?

And how important is the concept of Oneness when travelling?

Today I’m going to discuss some of the answers to those questions. Consider this as a thought-provoking reminder: while you may not consider yourself a creative person, you most certainly are. Even if you never write, photograph, or make a single coherent note, your friendships are your creation. So today we’re going to talk a bit about purpose, growth, oneness, and how they relate to your role as a creative being. Yes, you’re a creative being. Sorry, but its unavoidable; you can’t help it. :)

An Unexpected Outcome

The Element of Surprise is often overlooked as a key element in creation, whether it be visual, audible, or the written word; so this certainly applies to travel writing. For instance, travel writers must constantly put their readers into a state of wonder and surprise. Without it, the writing feels stale and predictable. Even if you never write, a good example of creativity in a social setting is humor; and as any comic will admit, surprise plays a key role in humor, as well.

Have you ever sat down and asked yourself, “What exactly is humor anyway?” If you think about it, humor can only arise out of an unexpected outcome. It can only arise if there is some flavor of surprise. Good writing is no different.

Our Shared Mission on this Blue-Green Planet

As a travel writer, it’s my mission to provide you with enlightening new perspectives of this beautiful blue-green planet we call home. It really is a magical place, and too often we forget that as we sit in our man-made above-ground caves as beauty lurks outside. Life is so much more than our routines. It’s about discovery. It’s about growth. It’s about inspiration.

And as a travel writer, I deeply feel that it’s my purpose to inspire you with these new perspectives, and (if I’ve really done a good job) make you think differently about the world around you. Perhaps through what I share, you’ll realize more and more that the Earth isn’t the dangerous, unforgiving place that some sources would have you believe. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying it’s without danger. Any environment that fosters growth will have dangerous elements, but danger is certainly not the defining characteristic of Earth. In my experience, the defining characteristic is Growth: a natural unfolding of progress.

You’re lucky, because people who live in a growth-inducing (catalyzing) environment such as Earth’s, will mature over time. Life paths that are dangerous and self-destructive are not a sign of a mature, conscious person; but mature, self-aware life sees itself as a fragment of a larger whole and doesn’t seek to destroy its neighbors because it realizes a universal truth: by hurting others, it hurts itself.

Our mission is to always remember and act on this truth.

It Takes 10,000 Hours

A popular idea floating around right now is that it takes 10,000 hours to become a professional at a skill, so it’s no surprise to me that after writing over a hundred articles, I am only now finally beginning to feel good about how I balance length, depth, and personality in my writing. And I’m excited that I can see this improvement quite obviously when comparing some of my articles from years passed. It’s truly a great honor to be able to share my experiences with you, and I feel that I’m just beginning to hit my stride in my writing capability.

I’ve realized that as I mature as a creator, I become better and better at discerning the quality of the creations around me, and what I see in the writing sphere is a good example.

What’s the deal with travel sites “churning” out content?

These days, I’m surprised sometimes at how some sites seem to write rather passionless articles again and again. I find myself asking certain questions: Does the web really need another story about how to best spend your money? Does the blogosphere (if that’s actually a thing) need another guide on how to use your time most effectively? Does the computer-internet really need another post talking about how “blogging saved my life”?

Maybe, just maybe, it doesn’t.

Maybe this whole web would be better served if writers were painfully honest and wrote about what they actually cared about instead of what they felt would generate page views (or worse, what they were being paid to write so someone else could generate page views).

At what point do people begin to stop recycling ideas and start actually doing their life’s work?

More Honesty = More Value

So here’s the crux of the matter: the more honest you, as a creator, are about your own feelings, the more valuable what you create is. Say it out loud if you didn’t the first time: The more honest you are, the more valuable what you create is. You need to say that out loud because your more likely to actually remember this timeless piece of information.

No matter what kind of content you create, it’s very important to be really, really aware that you’re creating for a real person, who may have arrived at what you’ve created from a variety of places. They may be seeking inspiration, comfort, or any one of a million things.

If you’re a travel writer, they may want a specific question answered, they may want to hear a story, or they may want to just look at some of the beauty you captured on your last trip to Galapagos. But no matter what they seek, the more honest you’re able to be with yourself when you create it, the more they’ll be able to identify with what you’ve created. And the reason for this relates to the concept of Oneness I mentioned earlier.

You see, when you’re really, really aware of how a person enjoys your work, you can put yourself in their shoes. When you can do this, you can anticipate their needs. When you can anticipate their needs, you can make smart choices about how to frame what you’re trying to say. I’m not saying you should only write what you think you’re audience is expecting. That would actually be the stupidest thing you could do, because if you depend on your audience for guidance, the chances of you ending up in a place that resonates with your heart’s path is close to nil. So find the message that resonates with your heart. Then, stay true to your message, but don’t forget who’s hearing it.

How Travel Writing Encourages Oneness

As I see it, one of the highest goals a travel writer can have is to inspire and grow the awareness of Oneness between people, and other kinds of creativity are no different. In the case of travel writing, when you honestly relate your experiences of another culture, not only do you highlight some of the fascinating qualities that are unique to the culture.

But more importantly, if you’re honest with yourself, you invariably come to the conclusion that, once you look under the surface-level appearance, the similarities between peoples and cultures far outweighs the differences. And sharing these types of stories affects us on a deep level, because we already know in the unspoken places of our hearts, that we are all One People, and always have been.

An excellent expression of this is in the song “Braided Hair” by 1 Giant Leap:

“Because We are One, and We Should Know We are One”

In short, by expressing yourself honestly, you help the entire planet. The practice of telling stories and relating your experiences of other cultures is just one example. Through honest communication, we realize more and more how we are so incredibly and intimately connected as a people on this planet, and it serves as a wake-up call for us all. The more harmony and cooperation we can create between the differing cultures of the Earth, the more loving and enjoyable this planet will become; and perhaps most importantly, the sooner this planet will become a congruent, harmonious society that’s poised for exploration beyond our own little star.

I look forward to that day… don’t you?
Let’s make it come faster.
We can, when we decide.

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Read related articles:
  1. Personal Development for Smart People & Travel
  2. How to Plan Intuitively to Travel, Create, & Work Effortlessly and Abundantly
  3. Travel Writers Need Time to Reflect, too.

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