Why not?

A good friend of mine had this very American Dream to travel across Vietnam by motorbike. The idea of it seems fun, though I have no other particularly good reason to take part. It's something to do, I guess. Lately, it seems like my planning takes place in a state of what you might call apathy or nonchalance. It's not that the motivation isn't there, but perhaps ideas of leisure and travel goes against my current quest to run an effective business. Something to talk to a therapist about in the unknown future? I understand the logic of taking breaks and celebrating successes, though putting that into practice, of course, is another matter.

Well anyway, the first question that pops into my mind is 'why would I take this trip?', to which I counter, 'why not?'. I couldn't think of much that would be truly detrimental to my goals. I might lose some time to working on the business or work, but what would I be giving up? This counter question has become a sort of short-circuit to the thinking that everything I do needs to result in some kind of measurable business KPI. 'Why not?' has become my reprieve against stagnation, both in my environment and mental growth.

After a while of collecting 'why nots', some things start coming together. Right now, I'm building a general-purpose, lightweight packing list. It doesn't necessarily need to be ultralight for Vietnam or Southeast Asia, but any ultralight gear here can go towards impulsive 'yeses' to future 'why nots', as backpacking opportunities have come up, for trails across the USA and the rest of the world. I've turned down enough to recognize that I could be leaving "money on the table". I've sparred with the FOMO demon and see its weakness. To put it in other terms, I'm living intentionally. Live, laugh, love y'all.