Travel opens us open to new ideas, new people, and new ways of seeing the world.
It’s also my love language 😉
I’ve been lucky enough to visit several countries, half of the U.S, Disney World in the triple digits, cruised in the double digits, and traveled by train, plane, and car. I have been lucky on most of that, and worked hard for some of it. I am very much aware of how fortunate I am to have done, and keep doing, all of this. I did make it a priority though.
Choices were made again and again to prioritize
EXPERIENCE over ACQUISITION. PEOPLE over THINGS.
KNOWLEDGE over BELIEFS.
QUESTIONS over STATEMENTS.
UNDERSTANDING over CONVINCING.
I was also lucky to have been raised by two people who encouraged me to experience things while always making me feel like I would be safe and supported no matter what choices I made. This matters. If you don’t have that, it isn’t too late to focus on what you need to feel safe in your choices.
As humans we need to feel safe, have basic needs met, and to know that we are not alone.
We also need to stop believing that we are right, have all the answers, and that our belief system is greater than someone else’s.
The world is a big place full of many people, cultures, and ideas. Travel helps us see that for ourselves.
I was raised to think that America was the one place that all people could live together with those different beliefs and thrive. I was taught this in every part of my life. I was fed this ideology in school, in sports arenas, everywhere.
What’s worse is I was taught by society that if I thought otherwise then I was anti American. If I didn’t think our country was the greatest, or was even wrong, then I was not American.
At age 50, I have come to the awful realization that I have been bullied and brainwashed, though not always intentionally.
WE are not free. WE are not separated by church and state.
WE are not we.
United is a lie we tell ourselves so that we can sleep at night.
As a woman, and parent of an lgbtq+ child, I’m all too aware of how many rights are at risk.
I don’t have any answers. I did not start writing this to talk about anything other than how travel makes us better people.
But here we are and now what do we do about it? How do we both, live our lives, and take steps that we independently feel are important to us?
I think I have some characteristics of PTSD over the realization that my idealistic view of the world is more fairytale than reality. Maybe we all have some form of it? There certainly has been a lot happening in our lives.
I am just…sad. Profoundly sad.
I know it will pass but not completely, there’s just too much loss.
So it’s important to find ways to process this awareness, decide what to do about it, and then continue on in the journey.
One of the best ways to process is to allow new experiences in your life. It gives you a mental break from what has been consuming you but maybe more importantly, it allows for joy to find it’s way into your heart. The newness, the excitement of discovery, the laughter when things are unexpected, all of it allows for your heart to start to process things.
I think we all need to travel more. Ya, that will definitely help.