Go Find Yourself
Its a cliche. Lets get that out of the way straight away. Going away to find yourself is something you’ve heard about many times, and you’re sceptical. You ask yourself, do you really have to go travel to find yourself? Can’t you just stay home and be who you are like everyone else?
The answer to both of those questions is a resounding..NO!
Disconnecting from your usual surroundings means that you are now in the jungle of the world. You are only using your own initiative and survival skills to get by day to day, without relying on lifetime friends or family to support you constantly. You will have to go out and meet new people, think of new things to do to amuse yourself, and even find work in a foreign land doing something you’ve never done before.
How will you ever know what you like if you don’t have as many experiences as possible?
As a lone survivor, you are being yourself, and not who you are expected to be according to your peers and the people you have grown up with. Some of you may find that you are the same, and some will find that they are far more comfortable with who they are becoming.
Without the distractions of your surroundings and expectations of what you should be doing, you are free to pursue your dreams and all of your actions will be alligned with that. You will not waste any energy on useless pursuits and pleasing other people.
From my own personal experience, my first trip away from everyone was to Turkey where I lived and worked for 6 months. I travelled there alone for work, stayed in a resort and spent much of my time outside of work exploring with new friends I had made. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life. I am currently living in Cancun, Mexico. I found an opportunity here, and having travelled here on two previous occasions, I couldn’t wait to come back. One of the perks of what I do is that I can do it anywhere, and this trip has been the top one so far. Totally away from anyone I know, with everyone speaking a language that I love but don’t know yet, setting up a business and working hard everyday in pursuit of my dreams. I have learnt more about myself in the last few months in Cancun that I did in the last two years of living comfortably. When you live on the edge, you are always on high alert. At this state, you are always at the edge of your comfort zone and you are given a chance to do something and learn something new everyday. Its the only way to be.
When you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, you know you’re on the right track. If you have everyone around you constantly patting you on the back and encouraging you to keep going the way you are, then you never know if that is the true life choice for you.
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What do you need to do before you set off?
1. Find out what your goals are
Take some time to plan and determine what your goals are. Remember, goals can’t be material based, as nice as material posetions are. The best goals are bigger than yourself, and material goals will fade when the times are hard. Make them big, make them fantastic, and so big that if you were to tell people, theres a chance they’d think you’re crazy.
2. Find out which skills you will need to learn to achieve your goals
Who has acheived or come close to achieving your goals. Find a mentor who has already done it, and find out exactly what they did to get there. If they did it, so can you. If you want to achieve your goals bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes and there is no reason why you can’t do it if someone else has. Focus all of your free time to learning and nurturing those skills, and even take time out of usual hobbies to focus on this. You’ll have plenty of time for your hobbies later.
3. Be diciplined
I have always been told that I’m extremely focused and diciplined when I need to be. If I dedicate myself to something, there is very little that will distract me and nothing that will stop me. If you have set yourself meaningful goals, you will have to learn to drown out all useless noise and distractions. Life is too short to spend wasting time on meaningless pursuits that don’t enhance essential skills. These skills and the pursuit fo your dreams is what life is about, so be diciplined and remain focused.
Nothing worth having is easy to get. The harder it is, the more you will appreciate it and the more you will learn along the way. It is in the pursuit of your goals where you will find most of your happiness, so get away from it all, dedicate your life to achieving your goals, and go for it!
Travel Inspiration:
