I didn’t know that I felt so sad about it until that song came on.

That song was my anthem for the thirty days that I spent with incredible friends backpacking around Nicaragua.

As the first chords started to ring through my headphones, my heart sank. I missed my friends.

As a permanent traveler, I’m always on the move. In the last two months alone I’ve slept in over twenty different beds.

Having had to say good bye to my new best friends (their travels had come to an end and they were heading home) I continued on, suddenly feeling lonelier than ever.

Imagine spending twenty-four hours a day with people for thirty days and then suddenly being all by yourself.

I never thought that it would effect me, nor did I have any idea that I was going to feel lonely.

My life had dramatically changed. I had gone from a ten to a zero and I felt like I was in a rut. I couldn’t proclaim that I was completely happy with my current situation and because of that I felt even unhappier (life’s ultimate paradox).

Laying down and looking at the palm trees above me I couldn’t help but think how ridiculous this was.

I was in paradise but even an infinite ocean and coconuts couldn’t mend my heart.

I grabbed my phone and shut the song off before things got worse. I took a deep breath and decided it was time for bed.

Before laying down I took out my journal and started writing. Here are the exact words that I penned to that page:

“It would be awesome if I met some cool new friends to hang out with at my next hostel.”

My next hostel was a lodge on an island. I knew two things:
1) There certainly wouldn’t be strong enough Wifi for me to work and 2) I would need some friends to fill the days.

I shut my notebook and went to sleep.

That journal is open right next to me right now, flipped to that exact entry. The next time that I wrote in my journal was three days later.

What caused this gap between my entries? I hadn’t had the time to write anything because I had been out and about exploring the islands of Panama with my new friends.

It took me less than twenty-four hours from that journal entry to meet an incredible new group of like minded, awesome people.

This should make something click for you.

There is a power in sitting down, thinking about what it is that you want from your life in the current moment and then writing about it.

Since this day I’ve started to make writing in my journal a daily habit. Every night I write what I am grateful for, what I might be struggling with and what it is that I would love from life right now.

Every morning I do the exact same thing. As the universal wheels have started to revolve and pick up speed I am realizing just how fast I can bring what it is that I want into my life straight to me.

I’m not asking life for a million dollars and I couldn’t promise you that by writing it down in your notebook that the next day somebody would walk up to you and hand you a check. I can provide proof that there is an immense power in putting focus on exactly what is that you are craving right now.

I no longer feel as lonely as I did, even after saying good bye to this entirely new group of friends. Knowing that I have some type of control over what comes my way has given me the incredible gift of relaxation.

When I need a few days to work, I write down how great would be to have good wifi connection (I’m traveling through Central America right now and times can be tough). On the days that I’m ready to drink a few beers and have a good time, I write about how great it would be to make some new friends.

I can’t tell you how or why this works but I am picture proof that it does. As I compile more and more entries I find that as I look back, I am getting exactly what it is that I am asking for.

Call me crazy but there is absolutely no way that I can stop now.

I’m officially addicted to the feeling of writing down what it is that I want from life and sitting back with a coconut in hand, waiting patiently as life brings it to me.

You don’t need to have an actual coconut to enjoy these moments (though it does help). There’s two things that you need to make this your reality as well.

  1. A pen
  2. Paper

As I’m sure you’re sitting their wondering if this really works, I have to ask: What’s the harm in trying?

Happy writing 🙂