"The world is a book, and those who don't travel read only a page." - Saint Augustine

Ever since I can remember, I've always known that I wanted to see the world. I'm the kind of person who loves exploring and going on adventures. I love driving without a destination; simply wandering around wondering what road I will take next and where it will lead me. This is a metaphor for my life that consists of going wherever life takes me knowing that wherever I end up, it is where I was meant to be.

Adventure has always been engraved inside of me. It's constantly in the back of my mind, wondering when it will have it's next opportunity to strike. You know that rush you experience before going down a water slide, before jumping off a cliff, or before you get on that roller coaster? That's the feeling I live for. That raw fear that is stemmed from a love of the unknown.

There's something about putting yourself in a situation in which you feel completely out of place. It's thrilling, terrifying, and overwhelming all at the same time. I experienced this feeling when my family and I traveled to Italy last summer. Being surrounded by sweaty Italians in the heat of July who are rapidly speaking an unknown language while making over-exaggerated hand motions pretty much sums it up. I felt isolated from my surroundings which would normally scare people away, but instead drew me closer. My excitement stems from fear. The fear of the unknown made it all that much more exciting for me to learn all about this completely new culture.

Traveling opens your eyes to how trivial your own "world" is compared to the rest of the world. You think you've seen all there is to see, when in reality you've only seen a a minuscule portion of it. My mindset is that the more you see, the better you can understand. The more you see of the world, the better you can understand people and ways of life that are unfamiliar to you. If you are at all hesitant about traveling the world, do it. Go for it. Simply close your eyes, take a leap and be ready for anything and everything. I promise you will not regret it.

Adventure will always lead to going out of our comfort zone which then leads to important discoveries about yourself. When you are thrown into an unfamiliar environment, you are forced to uncover skills you didn't realize you had. Skills like communicating across cultures, negotiating prices, compromising with travel companions, exhibiting unwavering patience, knowing when to "let it go", and navigating new environments. All of these skills are not solely useful in travel but immensely important in every aspect of life. It's exciting to learn more about yourself and your skills through others.

The more you experience the thrill of going out of your comfort zone, the less scared and vulnerable you feel when entering into unknown environments. The more encounters you have involving high stress situations that you manage to work through, the more you realize that you can handle any situation, therefore leaving you much more care-free. When you are more care-free, you worry less about life, making you a better traveler and a much more relaxed person in general.

So, be adventurous. Live life for the thrill. Embrace everything that life has to offer. Travel as much as possible. Dare to do something that scares you. If it scares you, you're doing it right. You will learn so much about yourself along the way.