When asked recently how travel has changed me, I can honestly say I had to sit and ponder the question for some time before giving a straight enough answer. I’ve written previously about the lessons I have learned from travel, but for some reason this question, be it intentional or otherwise, presented itself a little too differently.
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end
Upon reflection, I could see that my past 5 months travelling the world had indeed changed me beyond belief. There were noticeable changes others had picked up on – I was noticeably happier, radiating with a smile in 99% of my photos, a little heavier (who has time for a diet with buffet breakfasts), and had even been told that I appeared happier with myself. It’s true.
But if you had asked me this 4-8 weeks into my solo adventure around the world, I could not have told you these things were accurate or indeed inherently true. That leaves me to conclude that my happiness and thus change as a person has been the result of a long journey to self discovery, just as much as it has been a physical journey around the world catching planes, trains and hitching car rides with random Romanians.
If a picture tells a thousand words, my ‘through my eyes’ photos as seen on instagram will give you some insight into not only the world through my eyes, but my journey as a person.
When presented with the question “how has travel changed you?” I can come to no more accurate conclusion than “I’m not sure…but it has”.
Because that’s just it – I’m not entirely sure.
I’m not sure how this journey around the world has made me a happier person, but it has. I’m not sure why I see the world in a different, more positive and optimistic way, but I do. I’m not sure what act of kindness or otherwise made me feel something and switch my understanding of the world, but something did. I’m not sure when the change happened within me, but it did. It wasn’t the destinations – a new city, new country, new culture…. no. It was the journey. Because it’s not about a how, why, what or when…
it’s the journey that matters in the end.
