Wow, today is my 114th day traveling outside of my home country. Yesterday, as I was setting up a new Go Pro (last one was stolen in a hostel in Panama) I decided to look back at photos from March and April, the beginning of my trip. To my surprise I had already forgotten about certain things I’d done, people I’d meet, and places I saw.
This is in part due to experiencing a new city, site, or town every 3-4 days for 4 straight months. And every tour you go on or hostel you stay at leads to meeting 5 to 10 new people who are all traveling for a variety of reasons. So the only constant in travel it seems is change. Change in scenery, people, and thought.
So 114 days ago my mindset was one of timid and shy when approaching people, be it on the streets or in a bar. I can confidently say that has now been replaced with an almost automatic easiness of asking for advice from others on where to go and what to see in that specific city. And doing so in Spanish sometimes 🙂
This subtle change in my demeanor is the one thing I have identified as a change in character. Simply, not letting my inner voice hold me back with the thoughts of fear or rejection. Whether it’s approaching a girl or just asking for directions in Spanish, my mentality on this has totally grown for the better while traveling.
So when I finally return home and settle back into a job and a ‘normal’ routine, I aim to do so with this mindfulness I’ve manifested here on the road. This subtle confidence that I’ve found my voice, and I do have something of value to say here.
In the past, youthful naivety would drive me to learning and growing in the dreams of hitting it big with an app idea. Solo traveling provides an intense introspective on you, and an opportunity to see who you’ve become to this point. Rather than dreaming of your ideal life, you are living your life each and every day. Those half day hour smelly bus rides to a beautiful Acatenago Volcano hike, or Salt flats of Uyuni, El Penol in Guatape.. that’s life. In that moment, you choose to rough it and trek across country to experience something bigger than yourself. Life isn’t just taking a selfie infront of a worldly monument, it’s getting up at 6am to get on a 4 hour bus with no wifi and waiting to experience something great.
And as we revert to our lives of general normalcy, it’s equally important to look fondly on memories of the entirety of the journey. Because when we fixate solely on the end result we don’t log the entirety of the experience to memory. And to me, that cheapens the entire experience.
It’s been 114 days since I stressed over something from work. Something mundane and rudimentary in my day to day that would upset me and affect my mood for the worse. Hopefu