Recognizing Myself

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Trip Start Feb 21, 2007 Trip End Ongoing Next
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  Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

There was a time in my life when there was nothing more important then travelling. Travelling somewhere. Going anywhere. Just going to a place where things were different then where I was. I needed inspiration. Inspiration and spontaneity, the beauty of the new and shiny. It wasn't that I was trying to get away from anything bad in my life, well, not if you don't count being totally stale as a bad thing! I wanted to learn, but wasn't ready for a four walled education, so as soon as I finished highschool I hightailed it and started travelling my own country. I figured it was as good a place to start as any.

There are some people who travel as if conquering the world, country by country, is their goal. I used to think all I wanted to do was travel. That if I never had to stop, I would be as a happy as a bear with honey. I guess in many ways I do still feel like that, but I have begun to achieve a balance that I never thought I could actually pull off. I am too energetic and always looking for some kind of excitement. Something new to discover or to learn about. If I wanted to, with some hard work and perseverance I could still be on the road now, but I am realising how important many things in my life at home are to me.

It is a difficult thing to submerge yourself back into society when you've been away for a long time, especially if you were away in a completely different culture or several different cultures even. Reverse culture shock they call it. Everything at home may seem meaningless. People seem to never have changed. Things seem stale and monotonous. Once you see a different side of life, for some people it's quite hard to go back. Sometimes impossible. You find yourself irritated by the smallest things. You wonder why your friends don't crave more out their lives. You wonder what it all really means b/c it all seems so meaningless.

I guess all I am trying to say its that what happens in between trips is just as important as what happens on them. You do not stop growing, changing or learning.  Travel was the catalyst to the deeper understanding I now have of myself and of my life, and the lives around me. The understanding is forever deepening. I also do understand that if I had never travelled, I wouldn't be who I am today, but I wouldn't have even been me if I hadn't of travelled! The desire was too deep rooted.

I do know these things to be true;

*I would never disclude the idea of selling it all and getting back on the road

* I would love to have or adopt children and would never think twice about showing them the world even if it meant them not having a "stable" life

*I never want to be one of the people who takes a two week holiday once a year

* I want to deepen my knowledge of the world by firsthand experiences

* I couldn't give damn about any modern day pressures or luxuries of the big house, fast car, monster tv, fat bank account, "important" job or any other of the silly things people are starting to subscribe to more and more these days.

* I resolute to love and support those who have loved and supported me b/c w/out family and/or friends, you have no one to share your happiness with, and that is just sad

* I will always open my heart to the different ways of all people and accept that my way is not the only way

* I will find happiness wherever I am and always try to look at life with new eyes no matter where I am


That list is always growing, and that isn't the extent of it, but I'll spare  my deeper inner workings for another time. I pondered the idea of writing in the interim, as this is a travel blog, but I just thought to myself that the journey of our lives is never ending, so really, it is all just one, giant travelogue in itself.

Surely my life is likely not nearly as exciting as those who are off trekking the Annapurnas, or diving with whale sharks or sailing the oceans, but it is my life, and I want to celebrate it. Besides, only so much time can go by until I'm back out there discovering more of this extraordinary world of ours. That is a given for my love of travel will never die. In the interim, I will open my eyes to the beauty that surrounds me now.

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