Life Is What You Make It….Or Upcoming Changes To Myself

/ Terry Heck / Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately and I have come to a conclusion. I need to make some changes, for myself, and for those around me. Hopefully I don’t come across as a bad person but I am going to share with you, my friends, relatives, random readers, the thoughts I have as of late, and what I intend to do to change myself for the better.

Now I realize that this is a travel blog, but I think that some or all of these things will help me in some way while travelling and it may also give some insight into the person I was, the person I am and the person I want to be.

Stop Gambling: First and foremost, I have been known to gamble, high stakes, high rewards type of stuff. I’ve never committed a crime to further my gambling, nor have I lied about my gambling to those that I deem close or those that I love. I am, however, noticing a pattern developing. I have stopped caring when I lose, and I get the same sick to my stomach feeling when I am not playing. It’s the same feeling I got when I was on meth, back in the early 2000’s, and didn’t have any or couldn’t find anything to keep me high, the jones, as it were. I feel the addiction coming on and it needs to stop. Now. I have cancelled my online casino accounts and have closed all sources of credit available to me in an effort to curb this habit before it truly takes a grip on my life and before I get to a point of no return. My family and friends know what I went through with drugs and I know what I put them through. Not something I want to do to them, or myself, again. So as of today, I am no longer going to gamble.

Hobbies: I have given myself a goal of finding new hobbies to fill the time when I would normally gamble (initially started when I was bored, it has developed into more than that now). I need to fill the gaps. I realize blogging, travel, and half the other things on here could be classified as hobbies however I’m thinking of something a little more active like learning to fight with a sword or learning a martial art. I don’t know exactly what it will be quite yet but I have given myself until July 31st of this year to find it.

Travel More:  Pretty self explanatory. I just want to do it. All. The. Time.

Quit Smoking: When I get back from Europe I have decided to quit smoking. (attempt # 1 million by now, I’m sure). I’ll get there eventually. Never quit quitting, as they say.

Be A Better Person: I want to try and be a better person. I don’t consider myself evil or anything like that, it’s just that I could be doing more to help people or to make a difference in the lives of those around me. I think once we return I may start volunteering somewhere, a soup kitchen or a food bank maybe. I don’t know how much this will really help others, but I’d like to think it would, at least somewhat.

Work Harder: I want to work harder, both in my professional life, and my relationship with Lisa. Work will always be work, unless you are doing something you really love. That’s partly why I started this blog. Maybe one day I can make a career out of travel but if not I’ll still having fun trying. I’ve pledged to myself to be more active in my passion for making a life out of travel. Work harder towards that goal, and realize the dream. As for my relationship, it can feel as though, sometimes, it takes a back seat to the other things in both of our lives. I think some things need to change in both of our minds to come together as more of a unit. This will take time, patience and understanding, from both of us. No relationship is perfect but you should at least try and get as close as you can.

Get Married: The date for the wedding is November 16th 2016. If all goes well this date will stick and Lisa and I will be married. I look forward to spending a life together with her, through the good and the bad times, working through whatever gets thrown our way.

Blog at Least Once Per Week: This one will be pretty easy I think. I like to write and I like spilling my guts about anything I think people may want to read. Basically, I can write forever and not get tired of it. Did I mention I like to write? Also to tie in with this I have purchased a fancy leather bound journal for more personal thoughts. Don’t worry, most of my thoughts aren’t really personal, I have no filter, you’ll hear about all of it at some point I’m sure.

Learn a Language: Whether that be HTML/HTML5 (links in to the above about working harder) or a verbal language, it doesn’t really matter to me. I may even try to do both. If so, I have given myself 2 months to learn, at least the basics of HTML. The spoken language I will likely attempt to learn will be German. I have given myself a year to accomplish this.

So far this is the short list of the goals I have. Some are new goals, others are old ones that need to become current ones again. I think, if I play my cards right and accomplish what I’ve set out to do, I will be happier, healthier and more focused on the things I want and need in my life.

Next post will be more travel related, I promise. I just wanted to get some things off my chest. I think blogging about them will help, because I can always go back and read this to remind myself of my aspirations for a better me and a better life.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon and never stop dreaming.

 

First Post!

/ Terry Heck / 3 Comments

A little bit about myself to start things off. My name is Terry Heck. (toheckandback.com, see what I did there, pretty clever hey?) I currently reside in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, arguably the coldest place on earth, mostly a thought by those that live here. I work in the trucking industry, in the office; driving for a living would suck the soul right outta me. I am engaged to my significant other Lisa, own a house, have two cats which came with my fiance, but I’ve learned to love them and we live a pretty normal life.

Now comes the reason I’m writing all of this…

I have developed an extremely intense sense of wanderlust as of late. You know, the itch you can’t get rid of, the thing that is always in the back of your mind. The need to explore, grow, be more in tune with other cultures. The sort of thing that not everyone understands or supports or needs for themselves.

I’m a dreamer, always have been. Working towards the next big thing, the next crazy idea of how I could live somewhere else, quit my job, leave for 3 years, whatever. It didn’t matter what the dream was, just that it was important that I kept dreaming and scheming and one day eventually it would happen.

I can’t count the number of times people would say “Why would you want to go there?” or “Why would you want to be away from home for so long?” The need to do these things, for those that DO get it, can be explained as a bit of an addiction, a constant need, a passion. That passion is what drives us to want to go out and see the world.

To be honest, up to this point, I’ve only been to all inclusive, four star plus resorts. I’m 32 years old and the exploration that I crave, hasn’t even really started. I always told myself growing up that I would be doing this one day. That I would see the ends of the earth and everything that came between them. The other voice in my head always had an excuse not to. Whether it was work, family, friends, or money. There was always some reason to stay instead of go. I know one hundred percent that there are many, many people who feel that same constant push and pull to stay or go as I have for years.

I’m looking to change that, and hoping to have people join me on my first journeys, and looking forward to have them stay with me on the many others I hope to take through the upcoming years. This is why I’ve started this blog. I want to help people get over that fear of first time long-term travel, live it with me, perhaps be inspired to do it themselves. If I can help even one person, who like me, is longing for something more, something out there in the rest of the world, to get up and follow their travel goals and push themselves to do so, then it’s all worth it.

Now that you know WHY I’m writing all of this, on to the plan!

Terry’s Big First Adventure, yeah, let’s call it that, why not?

May 28th to June 29th of 2015

The first of what I hope, and plan on being, many  more will be a European trip with my birth mother, Cecile, who I’ve known for only 12 years of my life. Lisa (my fiance, for those that can’t remember reading her name above) was supposed to join us, however there were some issues and unfortunately she is unable to come. Her and I will be planning a wedding when I come back and then this solo blog may turn into a husband and wife super combo blog (trademark pending, just kidding, use it if you want to). Cecile and I are taking this trip together to more closely bond  and we couldn’t be more excited.

10 countries in 30 days. It’s going to be a whirlwind of airports, trains, planes, taxis and subways. I think we are both up to the challenge and I think it’s a good way of getting to sample of a lot of different countries. It will help with the decision of where to visit for longer periods of time in the future.

The country list, in order of visitation:

Sweden, Ireland, Spain, Morocco, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, Greece and Germany.

I will be documenting the build up, the preparation, and the gear list we have to start and hopefully updating the blog daily (likely every second or third day, let’s be honest) while we are on the trip going from country to country. I’m personally looking forward to the Gothic Architecture of Prague / rest of Czech and the ruins of Greece and Italy a great deal. Hopefully I won’t take too many pictures of those and bore you to death. I’ll make sure to add a varied assortment of content, you’ll see.

I hope that those that read these posts, follow our adventures or simply get an idea or two from us will enjoy coming along with us as much as I will enjoy having you in the passenger seat.