The Hills are Alive, with the Sound of Music!
Julia Shepherd
A fully qualified Financial Adviser and Teacher working as a Money Expert helping people master their finances, deal with debt, and finally feel in control of their money and their lives
I am about to take 4 weeks away. Away from my house and my life in the UK. Although that is not strictly true. I am taking my life with me. In a van, up a mountain and across Europe. I am about to embark on a much-anticipated trip to the Alps to walk and to decompress. A digital detox in a van with little acceleration. Is my trip relaxing? No not really. Why do I do it? Because it is uncomfortable. It is a risk. It is the unknown and it helps me grow. If I am comfortable, I am bored. If I am bored, I am unmotivated and glum.
So here is the plan, and it is flexible. 4 children, 1 large tent, 1 very old van and destination – Austria. I worked in Austria when I was in my mid 20s and want to show the children the beauty of the village where I worked.
Can I afford this trip? It is expensive – although I am a savvy traveller, my children are big and I do need to feed them regularly! What about work? I will be doing some work remotely. I have courses I want to set up and sell. My business is in its infancy so can I afford the time?
I used to do these big solo trips to Europe and started driving the children alone (same van!) when I the youngest was 1. That was an adventure. I spent most of the time in the toilet block with a baby strapped to my back! I haven’t done the trip for 4 years. Covid, retraining and divorce as well as an alarming and sudden pivot from Financial Services to running my own coaching business. There has been a lot of change. ?
Really though I need to do this trip for the value it will bring. I am investing in my children and in their memories. I am creating situations that might be uncomfortable for them to help them see how resilient we are individually, and we are as a unit. I want them to remember me as I am now. Fit, able and brave (not fearless – I feel fear). I want them to have stories of their mad camping trips to know that they can survive in strange places. I want their neurons to rewire away from their mobile phone dependency and their comfortable rooms towards a place where they look for solutions and they create their own reality to be able make friends’ whatever nationality those friends may be. Introspection in the mountains. They need rewilding. I want us all to thrive.
So, when anyone asks can you afford to pay for it and can you afford the time, the answer is yes because of the value it brings to us all. I’ll just spend less on everything else! I’ll feed them every couple of days! Gruel!?