Today I started looking at the most terrifying thing in the world: Changing the schedule of the Ultimate US Road Trip.
Well, not the schedule, but one of the attractions. Doing that changed the timing on whole thing. I really didn't expect that. Let me explain.
I'm really not interested in going to Graceland, the book I just read for my book group notwithstanding (Killing the Legends by Bill O'Reilly, if anyone is interested). Instead of going to Memphis, I thought I'd go to Nashville, see the Grand Ole Opry, and visit S's brother, who lives not that far from Nashville. Honestly, I thought it'd just mean going a little further, extending that leg of the trip.
It turns out that one of the KOAs I'd looked at for Mammoth Cave National Park, KY is within 50 miles of Nashville. I took a look around, figured out that I could cut down on some serious trip time if I moved the Tennessee visit to the end of the trip instead of the beginning. And it doesn't add too much time there - where it added about 5 hours of travel if I kept it where it's originally scheduled. Not to mention, it's about $140 cheaper. That’s just for the entry fees; I don’t know about gas or anything like that.
So that's what's going on with me at the moment, as well as researching ideas and doing things like that. It means I need to change the legs and how they're counted. I'll have to change my walking path, too. I'll admit, it's frightening. I've done all this original work, and now... now there's more to do. I don't know what to think about any of this, actually. It's a little weird.
Okay, that's not true. I do know what to think about it. As I said above, it's terrifying. What if I do it wrong?
This is a common theme for me, honestly, and has been for a long time. I wonder if I can trace it back to school, to when I was graded on things? That's not important, though. This idea that someone is going to look at what I'm doing and say "That's not right!" has been one I've faced and tried to get over for a long time. I can't say when I realized that thought was getting in my way; I can, however, point to a couple of things that helped me realize that there isn't a "right" way. Especially for something like this.
The reason I asked about the school (in my head) was because my thought as I wrote this post was "no one is going to grade me on this." That surprised me. Because the person (Randy Olson, https://www.randalolson.com/) who wrote this trip, who organized it and decided to do it, isn't ever (probably) going to know I'm going on it. Like, why would he? So one little change isn't going to do anything. and it's a personal thing anyway. Like i said, my dh has a brother near Nashville, and I want to visit.
So if you need it, here it is: You have permission to do things “wrong” when it doesn't really matter. Don't fix your car wrong, or your computer, or whatever. But when you're figuring out how to write a book (I use this because it's what I do), or where to go on a trip and following someone else's map? There's no wrong or right, only what works for you. Take pieces of it and make it into what works for you. No, it won't be easy, but that's okay, too. It's not always meant to be.
