There is a saying that we can only understand our lives looking back. Remembering all those moments from your past becomes surreal, like a dream you can’t recall being a reality or not. Returning to my hometown in Alabama after a year of moving out of state to college, I was shocked to see all the same places I remembered. They hadn’t changed, but still they were so much different. The places seemingly stuck in time began to appear out of place in the present day. They have changed only because you did. They are no longer all you have ever known. You return to them seeing them with the knowledge of new experience.

And it wasn’t until then, that I had returned to Alabama from the striking contrast of North Dakota, that I began to realize all the little details that made up the place I used to call home. I didn’t remember the trees or hills or houses looking that particular way- even though they had for the last years I’d lived in Alabama. But I noticed how different such a familiar place looked when compared to the new places I’ve been.

And this is why travel is so important. Because only until I saw new places did I begin to see and appreciate the beauty of old ones. Not only did I appreciate what looked beautiful in past places, but the memories too that made it so. The life I lived in Alabama came flooding back to me; I could not believe I had actually lived like this. Not that I resented Alabama, I just realized how different my life is now compared to what it was. The humidity, the sweet tea, the large oak trees were now all so novel and refreshing compared to the crisp air and flat plains I’d moved to.

Looking back, we see what we were and where we were. We understand how that shapes us. Looking forward, we see who we can be. Somewhere in the present, all those aspects combine and we are who we are. Appreciating and truly seeing the ordinary events and places of our past helps encourage us to live as we are currently and shape who we are becoming. Traveling is essential to view our past in a new light, allowing us to see where we were with a new perspective.