Life lessons from road trip to Bhutan.

Road trips are not just an opportunity to break free from your mundane routine or a chance to explore the unexplored. The carefree days that you spend speeding on highways or bad muddy roads not only give memories to cherish for life but also clear your head, give a chance to introspect, and offer many life changing lessons. All you need to do is, be observant and look at things from a different perspective.

“When you travel on your bike you see things in a way that you would never see on a bus or a train or a plane”.

With this thought I decided to go on this adventurous road trip to Bhutan. Crossing international boundaries is always fascinating but its more engrossing when you do it on your own bike. I told my friends Yusuf, Mayank, Raj and Lakshya about this and as always they were ready to accompany me. It took us 9 days to complete this beautiful journey from Jamshedpur to Bhutan and back to Jamshedpur.

Here are three life lessons that I learnt on this road trip:

1. Goal achievement requires consistency, discipline and motivation: When you want to achieve something big in life, divide it into smaller targets first. Celebrate the small achievements to keep yourself motivated. That will ultimately help you in achieving the bigger goal. Write a journal to keep track of your life journey and read it whenever you feel low. It will tell you how far you have come.

While planning this trip we decided not to ride during night. Even with good headlights it becomes hard to avoid things such as potholes, patches of gravel, etc. especially on the bends. For day one, we decided to cover 450Km and reach Purnea (Bihar) by evening and halt there for the night. To cover 400+ Km in a day was a daunting task as we did not have any idea about the road conditions and the weather was also not in our favor. Having a pillion made it even more difficult. We took 10-20 min breaks after covering every 70-80 km stretch. All the fun and photo sessions during breaks kept us motivated. Despite getting stuck in traffic for almost 2 hrs near Bhagalpur(Bihar) and riding on bad dusty roads, we managed to reach Purnea by 7:30PM.

2. Be happy with what you have: Probably the most important life lesson that I learnt is that life is much more than just work. Yes, work is important. But it is just a part of life and not life itself. True happiness of life lies in family and friends and the time we spend doing little things with them. Being happy with what you have is a matter of appreciating the good things in your life, letting go of unrealistic burdens and expectations, and doing your best to make yourself feel good in the here and now. Be grateful for what you already have rather than wasting time focusing on what you don’t.

Passing through the small villages of Bhutan, we stopped for chai - sutta breaks and interacted with locals. I observed people were happy with whatever they had. Life in Bhutan is simple but content. Kids play with mud and sticks, adults don’t care about owning luxury cars, big houses, and other costly materialistic things and nature was in its full glory. I saw happiness all around, no worries of EMI’s or meeting targets.

3. Life isn’t a race, go at your own pace: We all keep hustling to get what we don’t have, work tirelessly to get promotions, to get salary increment, to make our future better. We spent our energy and time on thinking what is yet to happen and forget to notice what is surrounding us. While riding in a group it usually happens that some of us try to cover the distance quickly so that they can get some more time to relax their sore butt. While trying to get those 5-10 extra minutes of rest they miss the serenity and tranquility that nature offers. Slowing down allows you to soak up every detail in nature as you pass by them. On the way of Paro, Bhutan there was a small but spectacular waterfall which some of my friends failed to notice. I stopped and sat there in solitude for 20-30 min. I can’t describe in words the kind of peace it gave me. I forgot all my problems and got lost in the sound of water tumbling down the mountain. Sometimes it’s necessary to take time, enjoy the present and live in the moment. Avoid feeling rushed all the time. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Start afresh.

“A book might make you intelligent but a journey will definitely make you wiser.” - Anonymous.