The date is Friday, August 26, 2016 and I’m headed on a new journey. My feet have found new soil in Minnesota to step on.

My brain is yelling, “Finally, we’re traveling somewhere new!” Sometimes I don’t understand why my brain screams this though; I’m constantly moving around? I’m always in a new place. Just days ago, I moved back to Arlington, Texas for my senior year of college (don’t get too excited now, I’ll be a super senior next year -- engineering degrees are the real struggle and there’s no way I’m doing 18 credit hours a semester to graduate in four years total and stay sane). Every day since I’ve been in town, I’ve been in a different city. The other day, I drove to Sherman, Texas with a friend to pay off his traffic ticket in Paris, Texas, only to end up in Durant, Oklahoma at Choctaw Casino. I was in Hurst, Texas one afternoon for a shopping trip with friends recently. The weeks prior to moving back to Arlington were filled with exploration around Dallas, a top golf night in Allen, Texas with my favorite coworkers, and a weekend trip to Austin with two of my closest friends. Days before that, I was in Seattle, exploring their graffiti scene and well, being a tourist, of course. Next week, I’m off to Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California for a spiritual journey to see the oh-so talented Childish Gambino with one of my best friends. Now, I’m trying to find a city to plan my next trip to -- probably Portland? Maybe another Austin trip?

So as you can probably tell, my world requires constant movement. That’s just the way I live my life. That’s the way I like to live my life. This is the way I think more people should live their lives. Why? I see travel as a way to grow -- both inwardly and outwardly.

Think about it: How much do you learn in a regular day? What do you do? Get up, take a shower, maybe go to school (where you learn about the tasks/jobs you’ll do for the rest of your life)? Or if you don’t go to school, maybe you go to work and finish some projects or answer emails, help a few clients? The rest of your day includes lunch, a few meetings, more work, then going home to make dinner, go to bed, lay there for two hours playing with your phone before ultimately passing out, just to do it all over again the next day? Case in point: You’re probably sitting somewhat stationary in life, conforming to a schedule/routine. That’s not a bad way to live life, but it physically hurts for me to sit still and be content with that lifestyle. I feel it in my mind, body, and soul when I stop moving for even a second. I have to move around. However, right now I’m a student and have been for many, many years. Conforming to a schedule is basically my life? So I rely on moving around (and moving around A LOT) to stay sane. However, to be able to move around, I have to make some cash, so I make money during my summers and winters off from school. Eating out is nice and I go out with friends and live a little daily… but why not live a lot all the time?

Sure, money might be stopping you (it usually stops me too), but you have one life to live. Live it right. Live a lot. Live actively. Live openly. Live spontaneously. Evolve your mind. Inspire yourself and others. Stay third eye woke. How do we accomplish this though?

Sacrifice the money. It’s worth your growth. You’ll make more cash on that next paycheck; take some time off for yourself and travel somewhere cool with your friends or even alone. Go to a new city -- one with culture, art, music, theater, good eats, great drinks, and cool spots to check out. Go camping in the wilderness -- sleep in a tent, chill in a hammock, bring a book, hike up a mountain, take some cool photographs, swim in a creek with your friends, chug a lone star for me if you’re in Texas. See the world.

Growth is about experience. Experience is about seeing things. Seeing things is everything that travel is. If you’re not seeing things, how are you experiencing life? If you’re not experiencing life, how are you growing?

Let your soul tell you where to go. Find a large map, tape it against a cork board, and find a dart. Let your radiating auras that naturally flow around you follow your thrown dart onto a city on the map. Go there, or the closest big city around it. Experience new culture in a city you’ve never been to. Let it shock you beyond your wildest dreams and see sights you’ve never heard of. Ask locals where they love to eat, drink, and hang out. Let the world shape you. Let travel help you become more tolerant of others. Let travel help you realize color and race are just another social construct amidst the slew of other societal nonsense people experience daily. Let travel change the way you think, act, and feel inwardly. Let travel help you outwardly in all aspects, especially socially. Let travel help you speak easy with others in general small talk. Let travel help you speak words of all your greatest dreams, even with a stranger. Let travel help you become more carefree, wild, spontaneous, and inviting. Become a free spirit and easy-going soul. Let travel teach you to not conform to a schedule -- live in the moment and never settle. Let travel help you become more intelligent -- become a good problem solver and decision maker if a difficult moment arises. Let travel help you become less materialistic -- become a minimalist and survive with less. Let travel help you appreciate small acts of kindness. The second I got out of my taxi to my downtown Minneapolis hotel from the airport, I (unfortunately) left my laptop inside, only to call the cab company 20 minutes later to figure out the guy was coming back. All in all, let travel help you learn a ton about yourself.

Sure, traveling costs a lot, but the difference between the price of a trip and the value of a trip are two different things.