Life changing travel pt.1 preparation

I never thought I saw in black and white until my experiences in the last two months have allowed me to see in full color…

My recent travels took me to Germany, Denmark, Croatia, and Italy. My sights were set on competing in tournaments around Europe in preparation to qualify for the DP World Tour (European Tour). While I would be there competing, I would get to explore new cultures and be immersed in anything that came my way. Before I embarked on this journey I reminisced in the fact I was even in the position to do these things. Without the perseverance, courage, and belief in myself - along with the support from my sponsors , family, and friends - I wouldn’t be in the position to do what I do.

I prepared obsessively for countless hours for over a year through dark times and long days to perform at a high level going overseas. My preparation did not stop at developing myself from a golf and training aspect. You see, I wanted my comfort level of my mind to be in the best shape I could get it in so my pressures off the golf course were at a minimum. This includes studying the languages of where I will be, the cultural norms, understanding the geography and transportation systems of the location in which I am in, resources to get the right food for my body, finding adequate training facilities, even knowing popular music that is so much apart of the culture. Understanding the minutiae of foreign travel as a professional athlete has a lot of studying behind it. Especially when your vision is above the clouds. You need to break down every bit of what makes you feel good, physically, mentally, and spiritually, all while being open and receptive to the culture you are in while still being undeniably you. Seemingly a tall task to handle. I know. But, taking it piece by piece, step by step is the only way to climb mountains. This was what I had in front of me.

I had no fear in my travels. Although alone, never before having any overseas travel experience under my belt - I believed in the work I was implementing into my daily habits that would be as close to what I thought I may have in front of me when I was in Europe. For example, I knew I would not have the same amount of resources of practice and training facilities that I have here in the states, where you can seemingly find a gym or golf course in almost every city, town, state, you name it. In Europe, not so much. I knew this going into it, so I developed new ways to work on my game without the need for facilities in between my tournaments if it came down to not having a place to practice. I rehearsed these new ways to train at home so I can implement them practically anywhere - in my home, in the grocery store, at a train station, airport, literally anywhere.

The ability to develop yourself at any moment of the day whether it be physically, mentally, or spiritually is a superpower. This is possible for all people to do, but where people get lost or find themselves making excuses is when they feel they are embarrassing themselves or being ‘strange’ in some form. Well… if you are looking to be great in any craft, you must get over the fact that people will look at you differently. You see, I care more about the development of my abilities in all forms than I do about how I look to the people around me. In the end, I will make a great difference in peoples lives because I did the things that made me unique rather than fit in with the norms of what is happening around me. If I have a thought that has the opportunity to make me better, I need to think my way through it. This means, I will drop what I’m doing to sort out what I need to think out because in my head I am obligated to my greatest self. I have been driving to a destination and a swing thought hits me like a ton of bricks. So, I will pull my car over, grab a club and work out what is going on in my head. Or, maybe that same thought comes to me at dinner. Obviously I don’t have a club with me but what I do have is my mind. So I go into an intense visualization session to feel as though I am doing every action that I am thinking of. Go to the extremes so the difficult times seem ordinary.

It’s things like this that separate you from the rest. While unorthodox to most people, it works for me. My mind is always working to get better in some form. This is something I wanted to really develop as I went overseas. To have zero sense of embarrassment in all things that I do to get better. No matter what it looked like, if I believed it made me better, I was doing it.

Moving forward, I believed the most challenging and yet most powerful tool you can take with you is the ability to accept what is in front of you and become open to all that occurs. It was this that I began constant practice of leading up to my travels. Fundamentally, if you can be open and receptive to what is happening to you and accept it for what it is, you will live with extreme positivity flowing through you. And when one moves through life with this principle in mind, the ‘problems’ in your life become nothing more than a small inconveniences. Imagine those things that usually derail your positive mood and outlook on the day just wash away. You see, ultimately you decide whether you want to be derailed and interrupted of you mood. It is your decision. People can throw a lot of things at you, try to stress you out, ect. but, at the end of the day it’s your choice how you react to those things. I began seeing those negative things as an opportunity to experience something that I wasn’t expecting and take the growth that came with it. When I realized how much could go wrong in my travels, I knew having the ability to wash away the negative ‘problems’ as if it were rain on a windshield could effectively make my trip feel stress free.

Surely there was a lot to plan, but I wanted the freedom to be me and make decisions on the fly. So the only true things I planned was my accommodation and travel to tournaments. It was very much intentional to leave the time between events open ended. You never know who you will meet, what will inspire you to see a certain place or thing. Just being open to the signs in front of you will lead you right where you to be. This is what I did and it gave me the opportunity and skill of being open to all that was in front of me. With a smile and belief for great things to happen.

And so it began, I prepared all of my documents, my body, mind, and spirit.

There I was…ready to fly.

Dino

More to come…