Whatever your age, whatever your passion, it's all too easy to push dreams and goals aside. Think less, do more. If you're considering travelling or painting or learning guitar, do it. I'm still working on the latter two, but let me tell you about my experience with the first.
Though not my original plan, I spent the past 3 months as a solo female backpacker with no experience. If you're planning a trip, especially alone, you've already heard the warnings. There seems to be an unspoken rule that women must be dissuaded from travelling or even leaving the house alone. In this and many other domains we are asked told to accommodate our objectification.
We are told to wear longer skirts. We are told to stay sober. We are told to stay quiet. We are told to stay home. Women have still not gained the right to veto people’s decisions over our lives or choices.�
I find that this need to convince others not to embark on their journeys usually comes from one of two things:
The first is a bad experience. People try to save you pain they’ve suffered through and learned from. We project our past experiences onto others futures. However, like snowflakes, no two trips are the same, they can’t be. Even if the advice is valid people often need to be left to their own mistakes. Money is worth more earned and lessons are worth more learned.
The second reason I find people dissuade me from travelling is a combination of regret and jealousy. Watching you take advantage of everything that grew to be nothing more than dusted dreams stirs up the regret of not living as deep as their circumstance allowed them. Subconsciously people tend to ease the discomfort by believing they had no choice. It couldn’t be done. So you can’t do it either. And if I ever decided to forgo the “advice” of those around me I was labeled reckless and immature as they expected to greet me with “I told you so,” next time.
They'll say you can't go on a trip like that, you can. They'll say you can't do it alone, you can. And you should.
Whether you hate it or love it, the trip will change you. Let it. Let the walls of your comfort zone be flexible. Let yourself be stretched and find out where your boundaries are. No matter who you were when you left, you won’t be the same when you return. Every day I would wake up and realize who I am in this moment is passing and the day ahead will be molding me into a world citizen and a greater version of myself.
It seems like years ago I was scrolling the Internet reading travel blogs trying to pick up the tips and tricks of more experienced millennials but in truth it was only 4 months ago. Despite what I read on those blogs and what you'll see on my Instagram, backpacking is grimy, not glamorous.
Every day of your trip will not be the best day of your life, but some will be. Even if you hate it, you’ll return home with a greater appreciation for all the things home is to you. You’ll see more of the things you loved about it and less of the things you didn’t. Heed the advice, listen to what they have to say but don’t let it stop you; don’t let it scare you off.
Go, please go; near, far, plane, or car. Get to know your city, state, coast, and country. Get to know the other side of the world. Find the money, find the time. Go to grow. It'll change your life.
