When we are young, everything amazes us. Think of a little kid at a zoo— they run around ohhing and ahhing at everything. They see a monkey, it’s the coolest thing ever! They see a penguin, it’s the coolest thing ever! Everything to them is the coolest thing ever, because everything is new. Kids have it easy in this respect. They are never bored because their brain is constantly being flooded with new information. Even riding their bike five houses down the road is an adventure to them. Slowly their minds are growing and their worlds are expanding. Their world began only as the room they were born in, but quickly it will be so much more.

Children have a very narrow view of the world. They believe that all there is, is what they have seen. They don’t think about what is outside of their little bubble, they just occasionally add in something new. This is what is so great about growing up; we are able to imagine and comprehend that there is a world outside of what we directly know. We know of all these far out places, we know about what we are made of, we know how a society functions and how we play a role in the bigger picture; we understand all of the functions of this world even if they aren’t directly related to us. While this is an amazing thing, it is also why most people get bored with life. People take this knowledge they have and think that knowing when a city was founded and what the skyline looks like means that they know it all.

Not only do we believe that we understand how everything works, we settle into a routine in life. We take the same route to work every day and sit in the same desk. There are no new sights, new smells, there aren’t even new sounds. And I believe that this is why life begins to fly by. Our brains aren’t turned on like they once were. Instead, they are on auto-pilot, going through the motions they already know, not even bother to look for new sights or smell for new smells. To me, this isn’t even living. Going through the same routine every single day just to get through the day; where is the life in that? At a certain point in our lives, we need to put in a conscious effort try to keep our brains turned on. We need to continue learning new things and going new places, or else our brains will get bored with life.

This is why I believe that the most important thing in life is traveling. Not only will you gain understanding and respect for places you go and people you meet along the way, you will never get into a routine, and your brain will constantly be turned on. You can read all the books in the world about a place or see pictures of every single angle of a place, but there is no substitute for just going out there and seeing the real thing yourself. By actually traveling, you not only learn history and facts and visually take in your surroundings, but you take in the sounds and smells and the energy of wherever it is you might be.

This is what really makes you feel alive, your brain connecting the smells of pine trees, the sound of the rocks crunching under your feet, and the sight of a lush green forest opening ahead of you to a brilliant waterfall flowing into an emerald pool. Maybe seeing a picture of this scene evokes some sort of response in you, but it is not until you are there in person, feeling the energy of the flowing water, feeling the mist on your face, smelling the wet soil, that your brain can actually understand what being there means. And wherever you are in life, the most important thing you can do is really be there. Traveling doesn’t have to mean going on a two-month trip backpacking through the Amazon—it can be as simple as taking your dog for a walk in a new park, going to a national park, and going on the guided tours, going to vineyards and tasting wine; anything that gets you out of your everyday routine.

Routines are what kills us. We are so consumed in our schedules and the repetitiveness of everyday life that we forget to live. Our brains shut off, and we forget how incredible this world really is. We don’t know how to be alive in the

moment, we don’t know how to not be constantly in a routine. Life wasn’t meant to be lived in one place. Life was meant to be innovative, unforgettable, inspiring. Challenge yourself to avoid a routine, to avoid being stagnant and to actually live.