It hits me like a bolt. In this city that has created so many works of art and melodies, why don’t I stop fighting it and do what I desperately want to do – create. I’ve been running all over Vienna trying to see friends and accomplish the ‘must-do’s cliché experiences. But at this moment as I sit still and take in my surroundings in the coffee shop and think about my long list of tips yet to accomplish, I realize that I’ve been going about Vienna all wrong.
Sometimes it’s easy for me to forget that travel blogging is not just a business I’m running – it’s about writing. Writing is an art and it’s just like all of the other arts I’ve been trying to experience while running around Vienna. Writing is like Mozart composing; you create something out of nothing but feelings and thoughts. In the world of travel blogging you feel that you have to see and experience things and have a constant hum of information flowing on the digital highway. But in the end, you are writing and that creation needs time. Even God had 7 days.
I’m running so fast, trying to be polite and embrace my surroundings and provide a hum, but I’ve killed my creativity, or at least seriously injured it. I get these creative rushes and thoughts but they fly away quickly in a cloud of frustration. I’ve got an overload of thoughts with no time to access them and let them flow out.
Even though I’ve been traveling and blogging for 5+ years I still have to relearn the lesson that for travel blogging you need one day on and one day off. But when you are traveling quickly through countries, it’s easy to forget that and quickly you find yourself with all of these notes flowing through your head falling further and further behind.
That’s where I am in Vienna.
So instead of going and seeing where Mozart lived and watching brilliant horse back riding or seeing another museum – I’m going to do what everyone ‘should’ do when they are in Vienna – compose. I’ve got my own melody of words to compose and that takes time. It means skipping other things, but that’s fine. After all, the real attraction in Vienna is composing – so why not embrace it for myself.
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger, and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcasetobackpack.com, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice.
Additionally, she runs an around the world travel blog writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.com.com.
