Nerves & Excitement: How I Know I’m Ready To See Europe
What's up guys, it's me, Marc Young with the VRX crew. And damn, do I have a good post for you guys here.
In the summer of 2016 (so not long ago at all) I married the love of my life, the peanut butter to my jelly, Aimee Young.
We are very happy together, as I knew we would be. I mean after all, she was my high school sweetheart! That’s right, at the young age of 8 we met for the first time. My game was SO STRONG she simply couldn’t resist me, and we started dating a short 8 years later. Okay, so maybe my game wasn’t too strong, but the point is we were together for a very long time, and come wedding day at the age of 24, we had spent literally one third of our time on planet earth together. I knew her better than I knew myself; she was as much a part of me as my need to eat, sleep, or talk.
So why was I losing my mind 12 hours before the I do’s??
Let me be clear, I wasn’t about to run away, I wasn’t getting cold feet, and I wasn’t afraid to stand in front of family and friends to profess my love. But I was nervous, an unstoppable spasm of nervous/excited/childish giddiness explosion of energy coursing through my body with every heartbeat. I swear to God, it was like a 18-hour adrenaline rush from the moment I opened my eyes, throughout the whole day.
The magnitude of what was going to occur was inescapable, causing extreme nerves. I mean c’mon, this is FOR LIFE.
The excitement of what was going to occur was unsurpressable, causing extreme giddiness. I mean c’mon, my fiancé is INCREDIBLE, to be able to call her my wife?! I’m so lucky!!
These two things combined would send me running in uncontrollable circles not sure what to do with myself. But there was a third piece to this strange chemistry experiment: the familiarity and comfort of the woman at the end of the aisle.
Through all of this unfamiliar territory causing all of these emotions, Aimee was a shining beacon of comfort. Knowing she was nearby, and knowing she was just as much a part of this as anything else calmed the nerves of the magnitude of it all, and left me with pure positive energy. I WAS NOT AFRAID.
#winning
I had a whole flock of butterflies zooming around my stomach, but it was all positive energy, and it was all-positive because I had an anchor and that anchor was the woman I had known so long.
That whole story was my long and fancy analogy for how I feel about shipping out to Italy and Switzerland with the VRX crew this summer.
I am NERVOUS; it’s true, because I have never been to Europe. It’s a whole new, bizarre, non-English speaking world that I have never been exposed to. That place is not like this place, or any place I have ever been. My travel comfort zone is more South America where I have lots of family and a decent grasp on the Spanish language. I don’t even know how to say “Hello there!” in Italian, let alone how to say, “Yes I would like to order the individual pizza with a bottle of water please. Thanks!”
And just like I was nervous for a big ole' jump into my life as a married man, I am nervous about jumping the Atlantic and throwing myself headlong into a foreign land.
I am STOKED, you better believe it, because going to Italy and Switzerland are places I have always wanted to travel.
Find your comfort zone in uncomfortable places
Dude c’mon, THEY INVENTED PIZZA OUT THERE! Or was that Greece....? Doesn't matter I guess. I want to go to both countries...and as an adventure travel enthusiast, I can't wait to get there.
Anyways, I am a pizza connoisseur, and I am so amped up to go have true Italian pie; it’s on the bucket list. The towns and cities are supposed to be breathtaking. And the MOUNTAINS, holy moley I cannot WAIT to climb me some Swiss mountains, eat some Swiss chocolate and look out over the world triumphantly.
The Dolomites in Italy look UNREAL!
MAN just the thought made me let out an audible WHOOOHOO!!
Okay, deep breathe and we are refocused. As you might be able to tell, the excitement of going to a place I have always hoped to visit sends me in a tizzy of anticipation that can make me quite scatterbrained. Just like my excitement to get married and finally pursue a life with my wife was overwhelming, so can a trip like this. I mean, with so much to see and do, I can get flustered, distracted, and ultimately lose sight of where I want to be and what I want to accomplish.
The one thing that keeps me grounded is my box. No matter which box it is, I feel at home.
SO. I am overly nervous, and I am overly excited, and I need a steady piece, a familiar piece, to take everything down a half a notch and keep me grounded just like the comfort of Aimee at the top of the aisle, and THAT ladies and gentleman is MY FITNESS.
I know fitness. I am by no means an elite athlete, but fitness is a part of me, CrossFit is a part of me, and that travels with me wherever I go. A brief story of how I discovered this, the first time I ever traveled anywhere of significant distance by myself was in college when I went to a conference in St. Louis Missouri. I landed, checked in, all alone, nervous, excited, and starting to spiral between emotions. I needed something to ground me, I needed something familiar. So I went down to the gym, and I did a quick WOD.
Holy cow WHAT A DIFFERENCE. I finished my workout and just felt a sense of clarity as if a weight had been lifted. I was enthusiastic but focused, nervous, yes, but not debilitated by it, just aware. Fitness helped me realize that 1) everything was A-Okay and 2) I was beyond ready to experience this new and exciting place.
And that folks is a huge reason why I am SO READY to head to Europe with you guys. We will be dropping into sweet boxes, hitting some spicy WODs in the great outdoors, and taking care of some mobility and maintenance as well. It will offer all of us a chance to shut off the tourist in us, shut off the worrywart in us, and do what we love: EXERCISE.
And when we finish those sessions, we will feel so damn good, and excited, and focused, and ready to make some memories and stories to last a lifetime. Guys I am so excited for this trip, I am so ready to go have a blast, try new things, and meet some incredible people along the way.
Do yourselves a favor and sign up to come along with me to Italy and Switzerland in August. Use the promo code “marc” to get $100 off your trip. It's gonna be a hell of a good time!
Plus, all transportation + accommodation is included? Yeah...I'm there.
See some of VoyEdge's upcoming trips here:
Shoot me an email with any additional questions too:
Don't forget to follow VoyEdge RX on social too.