8 Internal factors/reasons stopping you from travelling even though you want to so badly (Zimbabwe version).

This article is not meant to convert people who do not like travelling. It is meant to discuss certain things that may be preventing those who wish to travel but always find themselves failing to do so. It will also not cover the external reasons like money, family & other. This is because, while in some cases these are valid reasons, in other cases they are just excuses used sometimes consciously but many other times subconsciously. So the reasons I will give below are internal i.e. controlled mostly by one’s brain, fears etc.

1. Living in the future

So many times, we get caught up in the cycle of thinking and planning for the future, forgetting to live in the moment. “I will travel when I buy a vehicle, when I get a promotion, when I start earning X amount of money, when I get married, when I have kids…“. We always manage to come up with excuses to not do the things that we want to do because we think that there is going to come a point in life when it will be announced that now it is the time to do A, B, C. If there is anything that we must have been reminded of as Zimbabweans in the past year is that, the future is most definitely not guaranteed.

Instead of planning to travel to Victoria Falls while you’re in Mutare (if you genuinely can not afford), why not plan to travel to Vumba, Chimanimani, Nyanga. If you haven’t already read these articles about Destinations near Mutare here , you should check them out. Same applies if you are in Harare, you can check out places to visit which are less than 100km from Harare CBD here. We are so blessed in Zimbabwe because every corner of the country has some natural wonders which are waiting to be explored… responsibly of course. Therefore, travelling does not have too be far from where you are, neither does it have to be too expensive. There are also ways to travel on a budget even to the places which are not too close to where you are like we discussed in our budget travel tips here. It is important to always remember that there is never “the right time” to do anything in life, there is just “the present time“.

2. “It’s not for people like me” mentality

This is also closely similar to, “those doing it have goblins ‘vakaromba’. With how difficult life is, how are they doing it” mentality. The moment you have that mentality you have already destroyed any chance of you getting out of the situation you are in and start living the life you want to live. You have created a comfort zone to excuse yourself from being accountable for not living the life you want to live. Usually, the biggest difference between yourself and the next person who has “goblins” is actually not the “goblins” but the drive.

People set targets that they want to achieve in their lives come what may. From there, they plan how they are going to make sure that dream becomes a reality. Yes, they face economical challenges like everybody else but because they don’t base their achieving those goals on how well the economy will be doing, they keep on working on coming up with plan B, C, D…. If they get to Z, they go on to numerals which are infinity. They simply do not stop trying and eventually some of the plans work out.

Here are 8 ways to make money in Zimbabwe without capital which you can also apply the principles to earn enough to travel.

3. Right way mentality

This one is basically when one has a set of fixed rules on how to do things in life like travelling. The set of rules maybe be based on what one is seeing on social media or from people within one’s circles. For example, the right way to travel would be with a big flashy SUV, or the only places to travel to would be luxurious and expensive ones. Sometimes it’s actually because you have not exposed yourself to a wide enough group of people who show different ways of travelling. There is nothing wrong with following those who show the luxury lifestyle if you are into that kind of lifestyle. However, you have to balance it out with everyone on the spectrum so that you don’t end up thinking that there is only one way of travelling or one way of doing a certain thing.

4. Stereotypes & prejudice

“I can’t go to Shurugwi because people there kill people with machetes… I can’t visit game parks in and around Harare because that’s where pick-pocketing and car-hijacking is prevalent… I can’t go to Masvingo & definitely not Zaka because that’s where all the witches are found… I can’t go to the Eastern highlands especially Chipinge because I heard that they use lightning to kill people…“

In as much as some of these may be true to a certain extent, it is important to know that whatever you hear about a place or a certain group of people is usually not as extreme as it sounds. Our brains also tend to fill in some blanks using the worst case scenarios. So if others are travelling to places where you wish to travel to as well, don’t let those reports completely deter you from going. You have been informed about possible things that could go wrong if you visited, so the next step is simply for you to put in place measures that reduce the chances of you ending up being a victim to these crimes.

5. Patience

Here we are talking about especially patience to save up money for the trips. Like many of us, money is not just readily available for us to travel. Depending on the the type of trip you are after, you may have to save up for months before you can finally hit the road. And unfortunately this is where many of us fail. It is indeed true that patience is a virtue. Just with anything else in life, if you do not have a certain level of discipline and patience it can become a lot harder to achieve much in this life. Therefore, you will have to find ways to practice patience.

6. Fear

Travelling involves a lot of uncertainties. When you travel, you are moving out of your comfort zone where you had set up systems for when things go wrong. You know where your doctor or a hospital is in case of emergency, you know your roads to & fro work, church, visiting friends and relatives etc. You have basically familiarized yourself in the area you live and travel requires you to drive on roads which you are not familiar with. Roads where you hear that fatal accidents are happening almost on a weekly basis. Travel requires you to go to remote places where the best medication you have is your first aid kit and that of the resort where you will be staying, otherwise, the nearest clinic has no doctor and has never had one.

All this can instill a lot of fear in you and you just sit everyday of your life admiring those who are travelling, wishing it was you. The only thing I can say which is so generic but true is that you should never let fear take control over your life. The best way to deal with your fears is to face them. Nothing is guaranteed in life, not even life itself. Therefore, you have to cut yourself some slack and do whatever you can to keep yourself and your loved ones safe while still doing the things that you wish to do. Always being vigilant and avoiding being negligent to the best of your abilities.

7. Time

In a country with 90% + unemployment rate in the formal sector, it means that the majority of us are self employed. This then means that if we do not hustle for even a day, the income significantly drops. Therefore, it does look like we do not have the time to travel. However, I love this Shona expression which my mum always used when she wanted to spoil herself using money that initially was intended for something else which in priorities might seem more important. She would say, “kuti tiri kushandira ngozi here“, – “are we working to repay a curse?“. This is so true even in your situation. What is the point of working so hard if even once a year you can not treat yourself to a nice trip that you have been putting on hold because of prioritizing everything else in life. Reward yourself with that holiday and don’t even feel guilty about it.

8. Once bitten, twice shy

You have had some of the worst experiences during one of your trips and you just can not put yourself in the same situation again. You know what, I totally understand you.

One time, my partner and I decided to do a 3 days Nyanga trip. Everything that could go wrong those 3 days went wrong. First, the battery on our vehicle died. We called for another battery to be brought to us and thought, “Oh well! we have solved the problem“. Second, before even getting to the end of the day, the vehicle got badly damaged while being transported to a safe place. That damage ended up costing us thousands of dollars to fix. Then third, on our final day we got the worst food poisoning which kept us indoors for a solid week. For a whole year and half break, I could not bring myself to the thought of going on a trip again. For people who travelled at least 6 times a year, that was quite a long break. Eventually, after giving ourselves time to get over that and talking about what we could have done differently and what we can do differently in the future, we started feeling better and got back on the road again. So do give yourself some time to heal but do not stop living the life you want to live because of a bump in the road. No matter how huge that bump was.

Is there anything else that you feel is stopping you (or someone you know) from travelling that I didn’t mention? Let’s continue with the discussion on Instagram or Facebook.

Remember to always have a little intimacy in your life, and as always I’m talking about intimacy with nature.