As I'm running around my room, figuring out what I need to pack to spend half of the summer in a country I've never been to, it finally hit me. In just days I'll be off to spend seven weeks with a study abroad program in Costa Rica, taking classes toward my Spanish minor and exploring the country. And while I'm extremely excited about it, it just occurred to me that I'm also pretty scared. I've never been away from my family for more than maybe five weeks, and even then, I was a short thirty minutes away (from Chapel Hill to my home in Raleigh).
Going to Italy for ten days with my family is the only international exposure I've had. I've never been on a plane without my mom, and I've never been in a place where I can't call her or my dad at any point during the day. While a lot of twenty-year-olds would laugh at this and simply tell me to grow up, this is huge change from what I'm used to. And for me, change has always been a scary thing.
But this fear of the unknown, this uncertainty of what I'm going to experience is also fueling my excitement. I've never been much of a risk-taker, but one thing I have always been is curious. So if you're like me, someone who doesn't have an easy time jumping into something brand new, try to remember a few of the beautiful things that making yourself vulnerable will help you accomplish.
You'll learn new lessons to apply to your daily life.
Each new experience that you undergo will help you in some way down the road. Yes, things may go wrong; you might lose your purse on a subway or upset a local by not knowing the proper etiquette of the culture, but mishaps and mistakes are simply a part of life. You'll know for the future to take better care of your belongings or to be more mindful of the way you present yourself—you'll get street smarts. And because of these lessons, over time, stepping into new territory will be nothing to be afraid of. You'll realize that each new experience will provide challenges that will only better equip you for your next adventure. That's definitely something to be excited about.
You'll grow into the person you want to be.
Experiencing a new culture or way of life can provide you with a new outlook on your own life. There's a lot about my own life that I'd like to improve, like my social media addiction and the stress I feel each day over keeping up with the fast-paced society we live in. I know that getting away from my daily life and being thrown into a slower-paced, more tradition-centered lifestyle could help me do so. Each city, culture and person has a wealth of values and wisdom to share, and I don't doubt that there's something I could take from each of these to use toward my personal growth. Being open-minded and immersing yourself in completely different surroundings can allow you to see things in a new light an ultimately grow as a person.
You'll never have to wonder what you missed out on.
When given an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary, you simply need to take it. Otherwise, you're going to wonder what you missed out on. Think about all the people you wouldn't get to meet, the sights you wouldn't get to see, and the ground you wouldn't touch. Instead of wondering what could have been, you'd just know. And even if things don't go as expected, at least you can feel some peace in knowing that you put yourself out there rather than feeling a nagging sense of uncertainty as to what could have been.
So, as I'm packing up my suitcase and questioning every last item I'm bringing, I'm realizing that there's simply no way I can plan for everything, and that there's beauty in that. With that in mind, I'm ready to face the unknown with excitement. I have so much to see and so much to learn, and I can't let any reservations get in the way of that. If you're taking this summer to do experience something new, I hope you can let yourself be vulnerable too.
“Fear and anxiety many times indicates that we are moving in a positive direction, out of the safe confines of our comfort zone, and in the direction of our true purpose." -Charles F. Glassman
