"If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else's shoes or at least eat their food, it's a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch. Move." - Anthony Bourdain
"It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that's enlightenment enough – to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go." - Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain was the prime example of a nomad; continually searching for a new corner of the world to explore. His books, interviews, social media accounts, and television shows brought corners of the world to us, right at our fingertips.
However, that should not be the extent of your travel. Anthony Bourdain traveled far and wide and experienced many things, yet was still hungry for more. The world really is your oyster; the world really is at your feet.
I think too often people get caught up in the motions of day-to-day life, so much so that contentment becomes the norm. We like to throw around the mundane, shackled phrase, "bloom where you are planted," as a kind of justification. I will never understand the people who use that phrase as if their life depends on it; those who would rather remain in their microscopic area of the globe instead of going out on a limb and trying something new.
If you are one of those people, my question to you is: Are you living? Or are you simply existing?
May we take Anthony Bourdain's life and wisdom to heart and follow in his footsteps in our respective ways. We only get so many trips around the sun, and they should not be spent bogged down or the thinking that the rest of the world is an unknown, frightening place. There are so many different people, cultures, landscapes, lessons, and experiences to be had at a global level; why waste your time?
What are you waiting for?
Why "bloom where you are planted" when you can uproot and pollinate?