Never really a social butterfly, I was thrown into a situation where either I initiate conversations or I get left out in the cold, literally. This is the story of how I understand why this world needs more smiling idiots.
In the beginning, I didn't enjoy hitchhiking at all. The thought of asking a random stranger to give me a lift to a random strange location at a random strange time is random, strange, and daunting for me. Every time we (Me & Nick, sometimes more) were on the road I worry about whether we can reach before sundown, if we had enough food in case we didn't get any rides, or what to do when we get stuck in the middle of nowhere.
It was hard to stay positive on the road, having your thumb out for hours, watching all the cars passed by and none stopped, or when there's no cars at all you kept wishing for one to pass. Bickering and complaining was my usual methods of blowing off steam, I did it so often that it would show on my face as I hitchhiked, and that somehow made it worse in getting a ride.
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It's a strange thing to say, but somehow the drivers could sense my negativity when they passed by, and within that millisecond it was enough for them to drive past. As time passed I realized it was the main problem that needed to change, I needed to stop bickering and get a ride to the next city, so I started to smile. I grinned so big that NASA could've picked up my teeth's reflection from space.
Then things started to change, sure the rides weren't getting by easier instantly, but it was different when we hit the road. I was less about bickering the process, but more excited about who I will meet today, my smile was getting me excited for the unknown. I kept thinking about having conversations in foreign language while hoping for the quickest hitch in the world (The record is a 2 day hitch from Kesan to Izmir in Turkey, 2 minutes after raising my thumb. We learned how to identify most food and objects with Gokhan, our hitch, in Turkish). It was at that moment I realized when I learned how to enjoy hitchhiking, I could truly enjoy the process. Even though sometimes we get stuck between borders at 2 am on a dead quiet street, all I could think of was, if everything in life was easy, where is the challenge?
Don't bicker and complain about your situation, don't expect things to be easy, you are creating the illusion of a perfect situation, it doesn't exists. Learn to persevere, learn to be resourceful, learn to smile like an idiot.
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Sincerely,The guy with the biggest smiles in his selfies.
