I often find myself waiting for the next adventure. I often dream of exploring and reading national geographic and looking up plane tickets just so I can know how much money it would take for me to go to Canada.
Usually this feeling hits me around midterms, when looking up plane tickets is more exciting than studying for my Economics test. When real life catches up and I realize that my to-do list never ends, my friends are fighting, and the stress of life literally wears me down. Nothing would make me feel better than to just pick up my stuff and leave everything behind.
Don't get me wrong I love to travel. Every now and then we all need a vacation to de-stress us and make us feel a little better and that's okay, but when our first instinct is to run from our problems and avoid dealing with the boring mundane problems by traveling then there is a problem.
Traveling and wanderlust do give us some sort of release from regular life, but it should not be the thing that fulfills us because real life is so much better.
Wanderlust can make us feel like we lead with an interesting life, one that is filled with new experiences and novelty. The downside is when we do come back to our normal lives, we can often feel inadequate and bored because we are doing what everyone else is doing: going to school, working a job, paying bills. However, real life is made up of small precious moments that lead to an extraordinary life. While traveling and wanderlust often tempt us with fulfillment, we keep chasing it.
True fulfillment is found in Christ. He has given Himself over to us and completely satisfies our longings. Following Him is the greatest adventure and it's the adventure that gives us real life rather than takes us away from it. He is the adventure that gives purpose and meaning that infiltrates every part of our lives. Every day and in the mundane, joy is given to us.
I often think about the movie The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, whenever Walter would go throughout his day and never take risks or go outside his comfort zone and he would always be living life alone and isolated. His circumstances didn't affect his fulfillment but instead it was his perspective. Joy and life is found around a table talking to friends and being in a community of people that you know and love.
Real life is an adventure when your purpose and goal is to be like Jesus. Leaving all of our friends and troubles behind doesn't help because they will be front and present when we come back. Let's leave wanderlust in our copies of National Geographic books.
