Travelling anxiety
I am so sick of people who "love to travel". That's all you ever hear when you ask an innocent question like what do you like to do?
"Oh, I love to travel..."
followed by the dreaded: " but I don't have enough time!" or "it's expensive!".
Further inquiry shows that - in many cases - that person haven't travelled too much, too far or at all lately. Now, there are people who really travel far and wide and those people are really awe-worthy( hint @dannystravels ) but most of us/you/them don't travel FOR REAL.
Anyway, this rant has nothing to do with this post.
The IDEA of travelling is alluring. New places, new people, new experiences all sound good..in theory. For me, it's all an anxiety inducing event with a few bright spots here and there. The more I travel the more I realize that I can not stop my mind from worrying about...well, everything. I said this once, I'll say it again but travelling for me is like a hurdle race that never ends.
Pass a hurdle, no time to enjoy the satisfaction cause the next one is coming fast ( I guess it's correct to say that I'm running fast towards but it's not like I can stop..). A little insight into my mind in a small paragraph:
Reach the airport in time, do you have the passport but what about the tickets, is your phone charged, what if the plane crashes but what if you miss the train and where are you going do you have the correct address but what if your card is declined and you forget your backpack and lose your documents and go out and someone steals something and you are alone and someone beats you and you have no money for bus and you are lost and you will DIE! ( breath )
x 100.
No, almost 100% sure I do not LOVE to travel. And honestly, who would with all these thought running through their head.
Still, I believe I HAVE to travel. I believe there is honest and irreplaceable value in seeing different cities, cultures, people and experiencing even a very misleading snapshot of life "there". It is very difficult to be well-rounded person if you never traveled or at least, there will always be something missing.
Maybe I misspoke. I have to because I desire something from myself, an evolution beyond "me". Come to think of it, "have" is the bad verb here. I think what I really mean is that "I WANT TO".
Anxiety and Apocalypse be damned!
Honestly, I am traveling myself and have been doing it fulltime since end of January, but I do have the urge to come back home now. It is pretty tiring and eventhough you get to see a lot of the world and stuff, in my opinion it's not quite worth it if you can't share it with the one you want to share it most with.
Things will eventually numb down - another temple, another messy street, another landscape with mountains. I guess it's finding the little joys in your travels.
About your thoughts:
hahaha. GREAT ANSWER! Thank a lot. That's very insightful.
I think adding that experience changes you can be fair game...I'm curious how you feel now vs how you felt when you started :)
Traveling is now a meme. The whole 'experiences are more important than things' movement and all. People think that's the in thing now so they say that.
I think most people who do serially travel in a hurry are trying to outrun their shadows. In my opinion a change of scenery is good for your mental state, but being on a forced schedule or being more preoccupied with documenting it than experiencing it with your 5 senses is the wrong way to do it. I mean, I guess I can't say it's wrong. To each his own, but I stand by the shadows part.
Great reply!
I think you'll enjoy this article:
http://time.com/money/5191759/anthony-bourdain-advice-great-travel/?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits
Thanks for the article. I'm a fan of Bourdain.
I have a lot more to say about this subject, but I'll spare you most of it. I would say that in general(and speaking as an American), being well rounded is fairly over rated or even detrimental as far as adaptability in your local society is concerned, so there's no reason for people to do it. That includes travel. But, I've never found the idea of fitting into my local society to be desirable;)
When you are having all of those paranoid thoughts, just remember that it will all work out. You were born into this life with none of the things you were worrying about. When you die none of those things will matter. You will definitely die, so enjoy the ride while it's happening.
haha. thanks!
I am not sure why being well rounded is over rated in your opinion? care to expand on that?
There are several avenues I can go down in this answer. I haven't found a satisfactory way to express it, but none the less here's something.
Professionally, most successful people are specialists, but the people who employ specialists are generalists who were able to aggregate their diverse knowledge and apply it effectively. Those people are relatively rare.
Socially, people generally like people who are like them, so having or being able to see an opposing viewpoint derived from a larger world view isn't going to win you any friends.
For life benefit within a community/peer group, most people are better served doubling down on their strengths/increasing depth rather than exploring new avenues. This is true, but what constitutes what that means changes with your community/peer group.
If your peer group is travelers, traveling and random experiences will be revered. If you are a wealthy elite, there's another set of core values. If you're working class, there's a whole other set of values to direct your attention.
So what I mean is it depends on what you mean by well rounded. It's not going to do a doctor a whole lot of good to spend a lot of time learning about machining because it will never be applied back to professional work or increasing social capital. There's no dividend. It just uses time. But, maybe traveling somewhere impresses their doctor friends.
How I grew up, traveling anywhere that isn't Canada or Europe is seen as dangerous and weird. You know, those brown people are gonna get ya. At the last job I had as a laborer, I concealed that I had a degree because it caused these strange negative reactions when it was revealed. For the short time I worked at a software company, I wouldn't even consider bringing up...well anything that wasn't congruent with middle class, golf playing type values.
So, expanding your horizons isn't going to help you unless you decide to change your peer group. Even if you do, then you have past knowledge that doesn't apply to your present and futures conditions. For all practical purposes that was just wasted time.
I guess it depends on what you want out of life. I'd like to think that life is pointless, and it doesn't matter what you do. Fill in your time how you like and damn the consequences. That's reverse engineering things to fit my life thus far. I mean, we're definitely going to die and be forgotten, but I still have the desire to relate to people in a deep way and be effective at what I do.
Having disparate knowledge/experiences hasn't helped with either of those. I have enough surface knowledge to start a conversation with a lot of people, but I lack the depth to be one of 'their people' or effectively implement something related to it. If you start saying things that are coming from somewhere they aren't familiar with, they don't know how to classify you. You alienate them by being out of context for them.
So, I stopped bothering trying to make friends. I read my books, have short interactions with random people on the internet, and wander the earth alone like the yeti. Didn't this get dramatic fast? lol
I hate to use myself as an example, but in this case it was the easiest choice. I'm sure your experience is different, so like with anything, take my thoughts with a grain of salt.
I hate traveling, my wife loves taking vacations. I would rather stay home where I can keep an eye on all my stuff and I don't have to go through a gauntlet of federal nut touchers just to go somewhere. If I could afford a private jet that would be fine but I can't so it sucks.
each will make a journey would require a complete preparation, although there are not well planned. then we should make a good plan
I think why people travel is to have experience,meet new people with different culture,some for business. Everything in life is a risk,if one ever experience plane crash one wont like traveling but i think traveling is good cos it brings the world closer
Most folks are woosies these days... afraid of their own shadows and devoid of economic planning. PS the apocalypse has been coming since the dawn of man.