GETTING LOST AND FINDING YOURSELF THROUGH TRAVEL
"I want to go there to find myself"
"I need to find myself"
"That place really help me to reconnect with myself"
These are all phrases that we have said or heard at least once and even though they seem to come out of a box of chocolates they actually have a fondness of truth and lead to deal with a rarely discussed topic and almost a taboo of traveling. We often tend to focus on the external and practical aspects of traveling, ending up neglecting to talk about the personal and emotional ones.
Julia Roberts in "eat, pray, love", in search of herself is not so far from the reality of those who live the journey on a more conscious level. It's not about hopping on a plane and magically returning as a completely different person as when we left, it's not like we become another person after a few weeks away from home and return as someone that neither friends, parents, or partners can recognize, it is more about relearning to connect with our own self without the distractions of the everyday life; learn to know our inner self on a deeper level, because if there is one thing that I happened to notice is that we are so caught up in so many things from ending up living our existence as automatons and sadly few people really know what they want and love their self, but without stretching too much on a topic that would take much time to discuss, let's go back to us: it is about learning what we are capable of when we face loneliness and discomfort.
During my latest trip, to Portugal, I ended up meditating on how each journey took I start finding myself struggling to get out of my comfort zone; losing my confidence, limited to the places and people familiar to me; to end up rediscovering myself, reshaping me into a better version and of which I can be proud. It pushes me to come to terms with my weaknesses and negative traits to overcome them.I recently came across a sentence, I don't remember where or who said it, but it stated that it is impossible to remain stagnant while traveling...
My trip to Portugal (of which I will shortly write a detailed guide), brought me to dwell on an aspect that I never noticed before, about myself, thanks to the fact that I haven't traveled for two years and also the times of uncertainty and fear that we live in, have brought me to became more a more "alarming" person, overly thinking of what people might think; which honestly has never been part of my personality.
I'd like to spend few words on saying how this process of rediscovery is something that comes by itself, let you get carried away, don't try too much or force things, let everything happen spontaneously.
As far as I can tell you, I am firmly convinced that travel is the only element that can enrich a person at 360 °; I have often found myself making conversations with people who have never dared to put their noses out of their tiny personal sphere and with people with great views who have traveled so much with an open and receptive mentality and I can say with no doubt that I have hardly encountered a greater openness and empathy as in the second case, still some may argue that not everyone can afford to travel, but we live in an era in which traveling has never been so simple and within the reach and money range of the vast majority of us.
Traveling has become for me like a therapy, has helped me to connect more with my neighbor, I have never been an extroverted person, but if I used to flee social relationships now I welcome them with a smile, it is, in fact, thanks to the openness to others that you discover new perspectives, new ways of thinking and also ending up embracing aspects of other culture into yours...
No one knows you and you probably won't see that person again, my new motto as I travel has become "fake it until you make it!", let me explain better: while I travel no one knows me, no one knows my limits, weaknesses or mistakes, I have the opportunity to reinvent myself in my best version, to try new things and to embrace new challenges, and have the chance to start again every time by pressing the reset button. Traveling also helps me to stay grounded, when daily life, work, same people, daily struggles, begins to become so oppressive that became difficult to breathe and you start burning out, this is when travel becomes a life jacket, a way to recharge and reconnect with my deepest self, it really becomes a way to get back my identity. It may be because we were not created to live as automatons, insensitive to our surroundings, but when the necessity to escape becomes that strong to turn into an itch, travel becomes a soothing cream.
One of the many aspects that I love about traveling and that I am slowly rediscovering is trying not to feel conditioned by what we perceive as conventions that are nothing more than chains that we create ourselves.I try to break free from these mental chains so that I can really live, doing what makes me feel good, and try that thing that I would love to do, because it is not exactly that I can hop on a plane to have a second chance to do what I haven't had the guts to do.
While I Travel I am myself, as I want to be, it is where I can regain control, improve myself, take back my time...