Travel Is Greater Than College
E19- The Heart is a Lonely Wanderer
Michelle and I run off of the same fuel. We are both are brimming with too many ideas, creations, and passions to fill one body. We both want to know everything, which is our blessing and curse. Our thoughts and intensity hid our lack of direction. We are both trying to balance a very delicate emotional ecosystem inside of us, excited and overwhelmed by the infinite possibilities the world holds yet simultaneously humbled and saddened by our purposelessness, like we are both running out of time because there is too much to do, to many conversations to have, to many books to read, to many places to explore, to many people to love-Michelle and I get lost too quickly.
Which is why we both thrive off of travel. It gives us a direction and each turn holds unlimited possibilities, and every choice is ours to make that knocks down the domino paved path of new people, foods, and ideas around the corner. We are our truest selves when we are traveling because it satisfies the goats that we are. I once met an old woman, who I believe was me 50 years into the future, more than just because we shared the same name and horoscope, and she told me that I was a goat. Goats run around mountain tops, whereas cows stay in one spot and eat their grass. I need to stop and eat my grass. Since our brief clairvoyant interaction, I have tried somewhat to take her advice, but have often failed. And I saw that in Michelle, me 4 years earlier which is why I was thrown off initially. Maybe I wanted to warn her about life as a goat, how the endless list of what you need to learn, do, love, and explore never ends.
I sometimes think that there is a calling for some people, for those of us who choose to leave home and explore. I get this strange pull every once in awhile which is often mistaken/ the only way I can describe is that it is for nostalgia for something that I haven't experience yet, and I think that Michelle hears that same song. Maybe we listen closely to our somatic marker- the part in your brain where the sensations in your body that tell you if a choice feels wrong or not, your gut feelings or inner rudder. There is a saying that the reason one travels is to run away from something or one is running towards something. I believe that Michelle was caught between the two, foregoing the unquestioned college applications and attendance and an urge to chase something larger, some dream or vision that needed to be born.
Her heart is sometimes too big for this earth.
In this episode, we discuss
The costs and benefits of long-term travel
What it is like to live abroad
Why she chose to live abroad
The self-growth she experienced while traveling abroad
The challenges she faced while traveling abroad
Why she chose to travel instead of go to school
What she has learned by traveling
What surprised her about traveling
How she is a better person now that she has traveled
Why women should travel abroad
What it is like to be a solo female traveler
What it is like to live in Latin America/ South America
How she learned Spanish
Where her next destination is