“One fine day, it will be your turn. You will leave homes, cities and countries to pursue grander ambitions. You will leave friends, lovers and possibilities for the chance to roam the world and make deeper connections. You will defy your fear of change, hold your head high and do what you once thought was unthinkable: walk away. And it will be scary. At first. But what I hope you’ll find in the end is that in leaving, you don’t just find love, adventure or freedom. More than anything, you find you.”
The Staying Philosophy.
Travel is the New Black. We all crave getaways, faraway or near as they are. Each experience is not characterized by the distance from home, but by our personalities and faith. We long to find that sense of familiarity with new places, establishing faded footprints within the foreign sand. In hope of finding the positive index from within, be it happiness or excitement. As much as the purpose differs, respect is appreciated on any piece of land we are on. And respect comes in the most rural form of humanity. Simple is bliss and this is very real.
Travel is the new exciting form of escapism rather than adventure for some, not till we realize we actually mature from it one day. We cultivate good behaviors and grow positively. We bring new perspectives and negate stereotypes away. For this is what goes around comes around. Escapism has turned good.
Travel is creative. There is no pledge to say or anthem to sing because nothing is for sure. We have our own mind maps for conquering the world, one step at a time, just like how a child learns to run. Travel slow because it is not a competition but an experience. The visual satisfaction of the number of stamps on our passports is not real, but experiences are. Slow down and we will see how much travel has in store for us. Good things take time, just like how coffee needs time to brew.
Travel is not a manifesto of what you want. Let it be what you pursue to enrich your life. It is a leap of faith to be wild. Imagine captive dolphins being released, the results can be amazing or downright awful. It is the ambiguity and efforts that makes it exciting. Because by doing this, you know that you might lead a better life. This cycle could be vicious but in the most endearing way. No matter what happens, remember that this is our choice and we strive to make this choice an alluring one.
Travel is not perfect but unique. We have our own definitions of perfecting travel, but it will never be. Being unique can be perfect but perfect is never unique. For someone else out there share this very same definition of perfect. The art lies in the absolute way we embrace spontaneity and sacrifices. And these are the aspects that we learn along the road, certainly not teachable yet advisable.
Travel is not the New Black. It is exhausting. Mentally and physically. We forged bonds on foreign soils, temporary or lasting they might be. Friends that we make come and go like the buses we take to commute in our daily life. They, however serve an intriguing yet important purpose, transport us through phases of life. We slip into that dark hole of believing, though this is what keeps us going. The effects on the body and the soul are grey, alike to the shady line between forgive and forget. Before long, we question ourselves in what we believe all along.
We are all humans, wherever we are. Be grateful to the very moments that happen to you. Unwelcoming, dumb, fantastic, touching they may get, but these are the moments that define your travels, or rather you. For we all return home in time, as part of a bigger home that makes us one.
