My Anxieties about Vacation Preparations

By the grace of God, I will fly from Love Field in Dallas to St Louis tomorrow March 21.

I will return on Tuesday. March 26.

Such travel is common for most who will read this. But like I shared previously, it has been 16 years since I went on a vacation.

My anxiety is not related to actual flying. I have done that a few times.

What follows is a simple summary of my concerns for your best prayers.


PACKING
The anonymous sponsors of this vacation have loaned me their carry on bag. That was kind. But it presents a challenge for me.

I am clueless about how to pack for 6 days in such a small space. I am not big into clothes or fashion. But I do not know what I might want when there. I would feel better if I was taking 3 such bags. But I will take just this one.

The 10-day forecast for St Louis ranges from 60 to 30 with snow on the last day I am there https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/mo/st.-louis

I am reminded of my experiences in the Boy Scouts when I went camping and sailing. I learned the hard way to Be Prepared. So I often packed more than my peers just to make sure I had all I might need or want.

I will have money so I can buy what I really need or borrow it from my brother. But I would feel bad if I had just neglected to pack that item.

I find that I am packing various things in my medicine cabinet in small quantities.



EATING
Some of the medicine cabinet items relate to the risk that my gut will react to the different kinds of food. My normal food intake is the same all the time. I enjoy exploring different kinds of foods. But I admit that I fear my stomach might not be as happy as my taste buds.


CONNECTIONS
The generous sponsors provided a gift card to Uber. So the plan is to leave my apartment Thursday morning to make the 10:05 AM flight at Love Field. That is a 50 minute car trip in no traffic and I need to arrive early.

I hope to leave here with Uber at 7:00 AM just to be extra early. But I admit that I feel anxiety about this matter. I cannot control all the variables.  And missing that flight would be bad.

Please pray for smooth connections going and coming.


TSA
While I have not flown on airplanes for years, I have been to airports to pick up people. I have seen TSA inspectors doing their job.

Let me be honest with you. There is something deep inside that dislikes such a requirement.

I do not like the invasion of privacy.

The inconvenience for all passengers irritates me.

The goofy rules about shoes and 3 ounces of liquid are excessive.

I have gone into federal and city buildings where I needed to get screened.

The suspicion that every person might be a terrorist too much Big Brother for me.

I understand the reasoning. But that does not stop my internal issue.

I will take some ibuprofen to steady my nerves before I leave.


BROTHER
My brother has a corporate job and he has a side hustle.

His corporate job is for a cloud computing company. His work is like a project manager. He coordinates the activities of many geeks to keep their projects moving. He works from home and uses conference calls plus online enterprise software.

He dislikes his job. He has been studying various ways to earn an income online for many years. For the last 2 years, he has been studying ClickFunnels https://www.clickfunnels.com/ That company has provided the online services and training to help many thousands of people in all kinds of fields to leave their corporate jobs and work from home making more income while enjoying it. I have been studying the ClickFunnels system and I intend to use it in the coming months.

Here is the kicker. My brother was laid off last week. He has one more week with the company. So his mental and emotional life is impacted.

Jim is 3 years younger than me and I am 65.

I do not know what he will do next. He might go all out to start his online business.


NEPHEW
My nephew Trevor also lives in St Louis. I have not seen Jim or Trevor in 16 years. I talked with Jim for 1 to 2 hours every few weeks. But I have never talked with Trevor.

Jim invited him to share a meal with us.

I feel some anxiety about what that might be like.


FUN
When the sponsors offer to pay for me to visit my brother it was for Christmas. But my brother said it was too busy then on his side hustle.

Plus he had week-long trainings for ClickFunnels in January and February.

So that pushed the date to March. Even now he says he will be busy with his corporate job and side hustle.

He did not want me to stay with him in his small residence. So the sponsors are paying for a hotel room for me. And I asked for a hotel near a huge park like the size of Central Park in NYC.

Personally, I would like to spend every minute in St Louis with Jim. But that will not work for him. So I will likely be walking in the park and going to the museums there.

I love to walk and especially in nature.

I like some museums more than others.

As a workaholic, I have struggled to weave rest into my life. It has been difficult but in the past 20 years rest has become a natural part of my daily and weekly rhythms.

However, fun has been elusive for me. Lots of productivity, creativity and self-help lessons point to the value of fun. I understand the theory. I just have not gained the practice.

So I am calling this trip a vacation instead of just a family visit. In my heart and mind, I will be seeking opportunities to rest and especially explore fun.

I request your best prayers for me to weave fun into my life in the coming days, weeks. months, and years.


RECORD
Most who read this have a smartphone and often take pictures as well as short videos of special occasions. That is all new to me.

I have recorded videos on my laptop many times. But I have rarely used my smartphone.

I want to share this adventure with others. So pray that part goes well.

Shalom
John