We are excited to feature a guest post from Carl Landau, host of the popular I Used to be Somebody podcast and Diana Landau the content wrangler and editor for Pickleball Media, who together are also co-authors of the Amazon best-seller Pickle for Dummies. We met Carl and Diana last year when they signed up for a Taste Vacations trip to South Africa, which has evolved into a partnership to create The “I Used to be Somebody World Tour” with the first stop in Tuscany in September and a trip to Portugal in the spring of 2025.
Why do we all do it?! We think about doing something that interests us and then put it off, always for “another day.” We all tend to talk ourselves out of doing things we really want to do. It’s way easier to stay within your comfort zone. I talk about this all the time with my guests on the I Used to be Somebody podcast. You want to do something but it takes too much time. Or costs too much money. Or it’s something new and you don’t know what it’s going to be like. You can easily talk yourself out of anything!
But it’s better at any age to take stock of things. Ask yourself: Realistically, how much time do I think I have on this planet? How many years am I going to be healthy? When else am I going to have the time? If I don’t spend money now on something I really want to do, when am I?
All this hit me 4 years ago when I started our podcast and newsletter. And I’m saying “yes” to a lot more things than I ever have before. For my wife and me, it’s been travel. We’ve been traveling like crazy and loving it. We’ve learned so much about other countries and cultures. The trips are sort of addicting, (like pickleball?). Both good!
Just last month we took the plunge and went on our first small group tour with Taste Vacations to South Africa. The trip blew our minds. We learned about the people, the culture, the landscape, the food, the wine, and the ANIMALS! Like anyone, we were a little nervous doing something so new and going such a long way—those nagging little thoughts about spending too much, the long journey to get there—but we did it anyway and we are so so glad we did. At some point, you just have to say “F*&% it! I am doing it!” Making your dreams a reality is 100% worth it!
It’s one of the reasons why we decided to start hosting vacations with Taste Vacations and their sister company Zephyr Adventures. We’re launching our “I Used to be Somebody World Tour“. Starting in Tuscany in 2024, then heading to Portugal in 2025. We’ve also collaborated to help create Zephyr Adventure’s first pickleball tour with the Arizona Pickleball Adventure in October of 2024. We really want to travel the world. We’ve discovered we like meeting these strangers on the tour who become our new friends. Many are going to be lifelong friendships.
I know you’ve heard it before, but…life is truly short! Instead of ‘maybe I’ll do that someday’ you just need to go for what you want and make it happen.
