Reflections on Travel

I’m currently in Tokyo and taking some time to reflect on the past 6 months.

Life has been tough recently and although it has been only 24 hours since I arrived, it has nonetheless been a rejuvenating and beautiful time. It’s usually the start of something new that brings the greatest amount of growth. This experience has been no different. That said, I felt unusually compelled to write around the reasons for my rejuvenation because I love travel and what it means to be on the road.

In this case, I get to be truly alone. Yet still in the company of others. I get time where I’m outside of my own cultural boundaries, where I can see new things, make new connections, and relate to what it means to be human through the lens of another culture.

It also allows time to be, now without expectation. This trip has been one of the first where I don’t need to achieve - to do, or to create. That’s very rewarding for someone who drives their whole life through the above.

To see the world more gentle, to see another people, to eat and drink that which isn’t familiar (or perhaps is, but is not authentic in another context) is highly refreshing. Ability to observe almost goes back to a childlike quality.

It also gives an opportunity for reflection. In my case this has been extremely painful but much needed. The silence helps you speak to yourself. Don’t block it out with noise and activity. Don’t let action drive out thought. This is a note to myself, present and future.

Travel is also an interesting time to reflect around meaning and purpose. I’m currently questioning the meaning of faith and the role of God in life (Benedict de Spinoza shares many of my thoughts here). I’m also questioning what’s next in my career and relationships, where both have changed rapidly in a short amount of time.

There’s a lot to explore here but I’m increasingly convinced to let go of what makes me think I’m doing the right thing, and let my intuition, or inner feeling, drive my direction. Macro and micro. You might think this is obvious but you might be surprised about how driven you are by the former. I know I am.

I’m sure more thoughts will follow but ultimately through years spent away from home, I’ve learned that travel is all about you, yet it’s not at all about you. Living that distinction first hand is what makes it so great.