Nothing like another 365 days added to your life that puts you into introspection. This is on top of the extended pandemic which has certainly forced a lot of us to rethink a lot of things – from how we live our lives, to saving for the future vs just go with YOLO! and a whole gamut of whatnots that creeps into you.
Discover the World. Discover a World.
One of the best ways to discover yourself is to travel and experience different cultures. Experience how they live, how they react to situations.
I have tried riding the train in Tokyo at peak hours and marveled at how the Japanese while forcibly cramped into the train cars try to keep that personal space as much as possible. I have tried walking in Beijing’s street and almost got spitted on by a bus passenger or when someone cut the line to buy pizza, the vendor actually called the man out to stay in the queue. I have walked the cobbled stones of old roman roads and wondered how their shoes fared against such hard roads i fantasized walking on. I have wondered how Alaskans must feel so blessed to have white snow capped mountains as part of their daily landscape and have under 10 degree temperature on a summer month and to have the chance of a wildlife sighting at any point in time. I have lunched on an extremely hot and spicy tom yum fried rice in Bangkok and complaining about how hot it is but still continuing to eat it because it is just so yummy. i was awestruck to be at the cape of good hope simply because it used to be just a historical place that was oft repeated in history lessons of the elementary years. i felt the excitement of being near wild animals like the rhinoceros that while seemingly bulky and heavy can actually outrun a human easily and trample it to death.
beyond all of these, i have discovered that while i loved naturally cold weather, i would fantasize of the warm rays of the sun in the Philippine beaches, that eating banana cue is something that i don’t want to be just a memory, that riding a jeepney with all the different smells coming off passengers is equally as interesting as riding a train on the japanese railway system. above all, different sceneries – work of nature or man made will always bring that awe that so much can be done if only humans set their eyes on it. and by this, i mean choose to maintain pristine nature as we found it or be creative and use the resources available wisely for new forms of art. and that at best, traveling is ultimately not a destination issue but the journey you take with your companions and the memories that stick with you for a lifetime.
No matter how you choose to do so, discovering the world by traveling or discovering a world by diving into different hobbies is but a sure fire way of discovering yourself.
In a pandemic prone world, travel may have been severely hampered but it puts everything into perspective – choosing carefully where to go can make the experience a whole lot more meaningful while still being cognizant of the responsibility to ensure you do not become a harbinger of danger into the communities you visit or your own.
A word of advice though, it is still best to see the world with your eyes instead of seeing it through a lens.
my take 