We have no time for being a benchwarmer around here
By Mary Goggin | Georgia, USA
helloooooo again!
Fun fact: I was the biggest benchwarmer of all time in basketball as a teenager, and I will never forget the time I got 2 minutes of playing time and managed to score on the wrong goal… hahaha anyways! No more benchwarming in life, sitting on the sidelines watching everyone else live your dreams in front of your eyes. I mean who really enjoys that? I sure don’t.
I hope these responses give you some encouragement to just do the dang thing already and finally START your journey as a travel creative. You got this. And if you feel like you don’t, come join the party :) No one has it figured out so stop putting pressure on yourself!
Enjoy the read!
What are your best tips for aspiring travel creatives who are just starting their journeys?
I would say to find the balance of doing what everyone says to do in your creative field says and doing it a little differently to add your unique spin on it. That is really vague because there are many different creative pursuits where you can do from anywhere in the world, but I’ll try my best to explain it clearly.
If you are a photographer, for instance, first do watch YouTube videos to learn, read the famous books, listen to the successful podcasters, and read what other travel creatives are saying. Take a while to first learn the ropes and the essentials of what it takes to be a travel photographer. Then, once you have that down, start playing around with other non-conventional ideas that are unique to your interests because that is how you will stand out. For example, one of my friends, Nicola, is an incredibly talented street photographer, but he also loves taking pictures of trash or random writings on walls that you typically don’t see much of from other photographers. Of course he still takes photos of beautiful beaches, mountains, sweet moments between people, etc, but by adding something unique, it adds more depth to his business. Also, it is just cool to capture the mundane in photos and help people to appreciate all of existence, not just the “wow” moments.
With regard to travel, I would advise staying in hostels (yes, even as a solo female traveler) and spending as little time in the tourist traps. Get your photos, see the hype, but allocate the majority of your time to visiting the local parts of the city and experiencing what life is really like in that country. That is where you’ll experience those profound revelations you hear about from digital nomads who go on and on about what they learned from the cultures they visited. When I lived in Barcelona this past Spring, we lived in Poblenou, which was filled with small, local bars covering each corner, countless of dogs, playgrounds with children laughing, ping pong tables to enjoy, barely any pick pocketers, and a wayyyy less crowded beach. I absolutely loved getting to experience day-to-day life in Barcelona, and it wasn’t until I was living there for 6 months l that I decided to move to Barcelona. I actually lived there as well in 2021 for 6 weeks and attended a language school there and stayed with a host mom named Lola. It was part of my gap year program, and although I loved Barcelona, I spent most of my time checking off as many countries as I could on the weekends, going to Starbucks way too often, and eating at the mainstream spots. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is always a time and place for those moments and those are also a really fun way to travel, but from personal experience, I recommend the first option if you have a choice. After leaving Barcelona the first time, I was not dying to return or anything. I chose to go back because I wanted to continue learning Spanish and live in a big city. Plus, there were lots of international schools to choose from there. I didn’t notice a big difference in the culture until my extended stay. I actually learned that I prefer the way of life there better in comparison to my life in America, which is one reason I am moving there! Each day I would get coffee with Janis at our favorite cafe down the block, work remotely there, pick up a few things from the store, and then make dinner at home. We would go to this one bar literally 2 minutes away from our apartment to watch football games and get some tapas, walk around our neighborhood, or play ping pong at the park in the evenings. It was so simple, yet so enjoyable. I will discuss that more in detail in another post, but you get the point.
This was one of the parks in the middle of Poblenou! <3
There are many young creatives that have a calling to live the “unconventional lifestyle,” but they have many internal conflicts to take the leap to follow their heart. What advice would you give someone who is doubting whether or not to follow their creative passions instead of living a more traditional life?
Oh boy. I would say to not wait until the time is right and instead sign up TODAY for that photography course, networking event, videographer retreat, travel program, and so on. For me, I don’t let myself get too inhibited by fear because by taking an action and diving into that creative pursuit or opportunity that you seem underprepared for, you learn a lot about yourself. You learn if that creative pursuit is even something you enjoy. You learn if you’re maximizing your skills and positive attributes with this or if your talents may be otherwise. At the end of the day, you won’t know until you find out and even if it doesn’t turn out as great as you thought, you’ll meet someone really cool that you learn from or become friends with. Life just isn’t that serious. We are only on Earth for a brief moment, so go have fun and take the jump. So what if you fail? You either get up and try again and succeed or realize that you want to continue the current, stable job you have. Are you scared of what people will think? Everyone is so focused on their own journeys, that they will think about that incident for a minute and then move on. And if they don’t, they probably talk about everyone else being brave because they are too scared to do so themselves. I personally can’t remember a single failure or embarrassing moment of anyone I know who went after their dreams out of my inner circle. Truly. So with that, full send it because life just isn’t that deep and you don’t want to be filled with regret and what ifs one day.
