What Hitchhiking Across America Taught Me about Taking Business Risks
By Christine OKelly | October 7, 2007
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When I was 22 years old, I had successfully escaped my meager upbringing in Maryland and was living in Beverly Hills. Things seemed great. I was engaged to my best friend, had a kick-ass apartment, and (I thought) was about to set the world on fire in the publishing industry.
But then everything fell apart. I broke up with the guy and suddenly had no clarity to continue on the path I was headed. What I needed was a pure, unadulterated life changing, freak out adventure to find myself after leaving this old life.
Long story short, that adventure turned out to be hitchhiking across the United States – east and west, north and south – a total of 10,000+ miles in a 6 month period. I met a great friend early in the trip which ended up becoming my husband of 8 years (now ex-husband and great friend). When we weren’t hitchhiking, we were living in a tent on some of the most beautiful beaches in California, the most amazing deserts in Nevada, and all sorts of incredible places that I would have never otherwise experienced.
During that time, we had essentially NO money. When we needed money, my ex would play guitar and I would sing along and people would drop coins in our cup. What a big difference from living in Beverly Hills! That was the most exciting experience of my life and it taught me a very important lesson about life and about taking risks.
Something Will Always Work Out
There were plenty of challenges that came along with adventure, but something ALWAYS worked out. I leaned to trust in this fact as a rule of the universe. Once I lost my only pair of shoes on the beach somewhere and my goal that day was to find a pair of shoes. When I hiked up the rocky Santa Cruz beach cliff to where Highway 1 passed by above, I found a pair of flip flops in my size on the side of the road.
Once when we were broke and stranded at a gas station in the middle of nowhere New Mexico with no food, I dug through my backpack and found a book of stamps. I walked over to the gas pumps and asked a woman if she would be interested in buying the book of stamps for $5. She told me that she was in need of a book of stamps but didn’t want to drive into town to get them and happily handed me the $5 for the stamps.
Once when we were stuck in El Paso Texas at dusk (a bad place to be – we always tried to be out of the city and have set up camp by dusk) we put all of our energy into hoping for a trucker on a long haul to pull over. About 20 minutes later, a trucker on a long haul through Texas pulled over and told us that he had passed us and got off of at the next exit and turned around because “the universe told him to pick us up.”
No matter the situation, something always worked out.
You May Gain More By Losing It All
For all accounts and purposes, most people would say that being homeless and living in a tent is about as low as you can go. But that experience gave me a taste of pure unbridled FREEDOM – something that most people will never experience in their lives.
I’m not advocating going out and being homeless. Certainly, this is an extreme example and I hope that if you did ever lose everything that you would have a safe place to go. But if you don’t – guess what – it’s not the end of the world and you may end up stronger for it.
Freedom is Worth the Fight
Freedom is intoxifing. Even though I was completely broke, I had no one to answer to, no schedule to succumb to, nothing to get back to, no particular destination to head in – and it felt fantastic.
Now my goal is to have that level of freedom – only this time with money. I don’t care if I have billions of dollars – just that I can have time on this earth where I can enjoy the pleasures of being alive without anyone telling me where I have to go by when or what I have to do next. This doesn’t even need to last forever. 3-6 months out of the year will be fine and then I will spend the remaining 6-9 months working to get back to that state.
Just about every waking moment of my life is spent working toward getting back to that feeling of freedom and being able to expose my kids that feeling of freedom. In my opinion, this is something that every single individual should experience in life regardless of what it takes to achieve it. During those times when you have the freedom to think and act as you choose, you may find more inspiration, more ideas, and more meaning in life than in years spent in captivity.
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This post kicks ass. You really seem to know how to set out and conquer your world.
Great trip, sounds like it would of been fun. I never had the chance to do that really. To bad but never the less I have had some life changing trips I have been on and have too tought me. But with out boring you to death about little old me and a memory trip I am not sure I want to go down right now great post. I love your articles.
Thanks for sharing. What an inspirational story!
Great post! Those are great things to learn at a young age. I wish I had learned some of this earlier. The best time of my life was 6 years ago when I sold everything I had except what could fit in my minivan and moved to New Mexico. I was only able to stay 3 months, but it changed my life, as your trip changed yours. I totally agree with what you say: “During those times when you have the freedom to think and act as you choose, you may find more inspiration, more ideas, and more meaning in life than in years spent in captivity.”
@ James, Collin, & Chuck: wow - thank you!
@ Pat: Pat - this is GREAT!! I love hearing from others who have done this! New Mexico is such a magical place in and of itself - I can see how this experience would be life changing - wow!
I am a huge believer in getting rid of all ’stuff’ on a regular basis and starting fresh. Our ’stuff’ can drag us down more than we realize. Today, I don’t keep anything around unless it serves a purpose - it must have functionality, beauty, or a ‘feel-good’ factor. If the thing has a negative memory or is just taking up space, it’s gone.
Thank you SO much for sharing!
Christine,
This is such a great post!!! I truly believe that until you can be happy and content with NOTHING, that you can never be happy and content with EVERYTHING.
It is odd but I have seen people who were homeless that had a richer selfworth than some millionares.
Thank you Bunk! I completely agree with what you are saying - I met many, many people in my travels that had absolutely nothing - yet they were some of the satisfied and most INDIVIDUAL people I have ever met.
I love what you say here: “until you can be happy and content with NOTHING, that you can never be happy and content with EVERYTHING.”
I can relate to your general experiences and have to say you expressed it perfectly!
The world can be a very nice place:)
Freedom has it’s price like everything… usually the more free you are, the more it costs…
I understand about your wanting to recapture the feeling but for me I am happy to chalk it up to experience… Getting “to” freedom and getting “back from” freedom were two most difficult roads and not ones i’d like to revisit.
A good experience and a lesson well learned is a fond and lasting memory in my book:)Plus, at my age, I don’t see myself bathing in high mountain lakes and waking up 1/2 frozen in the forest… but a nice hot spring would be great!
Anyway, you rock!
Christine,
I love reading your blog and this post in particular really hits home. I also spent my early 20’s traveling the world. It was, as you said, a life changing experience. I think our best “hotel” was actually a tent on the beach in Fiji that didn’t even have a door to zip.
Thanks for putting things in perspective today. I needed it!
@ Bob: I hear ya - It was a little difficult to pull out of that situation - but definitely worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I don’t think it’s ever too late to have some mini adventures, even if they aren’t to this extreme. Even a week where you commit to going somewhere completely different and allowing adventure to happen can be just as exciting - don’t you think?
@ Tara: Wow Tara - that sounds incredible… I’ve been needing to put things into perspective for a while now too - that is one of the reasons I decided to get into the travel business with http://www.lifestylevacationing.com. Travel and adventures used to be such a huge part of my existence and then came to a screeching halt. I need that back in order to live my best life.
I’ve read your blog and I think its so cool that you continue to travel even now with triplets! You’re awesome.
Christine
Wow what a great post. I usually just lurk around and read the blogs but this post really stirred up something inside. Considering I am 22 and about to finish college and planning a big trip to Australia and Asia (I reside in Canada) I cant help but think of the adventures ahead.
I’m starting to love your blog more and more by the day and its posts like this that do it for me. Awesome job.
Drasko - I am so thrilled for you! You are going to have so many incredible adventures…wow. I feel like I learned more important things on this trip than during my entire 4 years in college.
Thank you so much for your kind words ~
Christine
Amazing post. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us. I, too, watch the sort of freedom you discussed. It’s so, so draining trying to chase money… but if we follow our passions, anything is possible. Keep on doing what you’re doing!!
Best,
Dave
Oh wow Dave - I think your comment says it all… chasing money can leave you so empty - I admit, I’ve chased the wrong thing for far too many years. I am learning that to be TRULY successful and fulfilled, you must first DISCOVER your passions and then set out the achieve them no matter what - then I’m convinced that the greatest success ever will follow.
Thanks!
Christine
christine, first of all, i have to say that i am so glad you now have your own blog. i like cbg, but i LOVE yours.
i’m so glad you wrote on this subject. it’s been lurking in my mind this week. specifically, how i felt i had no boundaries when i first thought of durtbagz and how that has changed at this point, after going through all of the junk to get it rolling. i’ve been thinking about how to get back to that mind set, that i can do/try/accomplish pretty much whatever i want to with this company. it’s kind of hard. i’m a bit jaded after all of the setbacks and the limitations on the parts that i have to have to make it work (screen printers, web developers…). things were much more fun when i had my fearless mindset and that is where i want to be. thanks for this post.
Thanks for the freedom story. I rarely speak about my hitchhiking trip from Calif. to Jackson, Mississippi when I was 9 yrs. old, mainly because no one sees the tremendous benefit the freedom and complete self-relience had on me. I also learned, as you did, that life or something was always with me and I could listen and find which ride to take or what direction to walk. I learned I had to trust that to continue in safety. Looking back now I realize what a trememdous difference it has made in my outlook.As you say, back in captivity. What a great way to describe it. Thank you, Jeannie
WTF. That is Nucking Futs. That is totally cool. crazy as shit but cool. Respect.
Something Will Always Work Out.
I’m glad to see someone else does too.
I live by that rule. Everything always works out eventually and thats why I have such a great outlook on life
I read in this that regardless of what happened you trusted it would suffice. Non attachment to the outcome. That is truly freedom, live in the moment. An excellent posts, thank you for sharing it.