Don't Travel, Explore
Is “travel” a buzzword? It sure seems like it. The word “travel” is usually tucked in between the phrases passion and hobby. While seeing the nooks and crannies of the world may be “what you love doing”, ask yourself exactly why you travel. What do you gain from it? Is it to escape from reality? What have you learned or taken away from the act of traveling?
I want to start this off by saying that in no way am I disincentivizing people to travel. By all means, go on a Mediterranean cruise, skydive in Dubai, get eaten by an orca whale in Canada, I don’t mind. The purpose of this article is to challenge your conception of traveling and introduce the idea of exploration.
When people speak about travel, glowing testimonials accompany them. Whether it be a new lease on life, inspiration to start a company, or a realization of pressing social issues, traveling (often to foreign lands) is life changing. Take a moment to think about how each vacation has changed you or contributed to your answer to the question, “Who am I?”. Has traveling really impacted your personal identity? Or does traveling act as a mindless escape?
In a world of social media and connectivity, we’re constantly exposed to the vastness of the world, almost to a fault. We get caught up in dreams, wants, and escaping. This mindset sacrifices focus on the present and the domestic portions of our lives. In the past couple of years, I’ve attempted to cut down on quote on quote “traveling” and have made a focused effort to invest more time in exploration. Let me dive into this.
Exploration, to me, looks like visiting the bodega down the street on a Sunday, speaking to the local bookstore owner, or finding a new reading nook in a new cafe nearby. The official definition is to “travel in or through…in order to learn or familiarize oneself”. Exploration should be done in places we physically reside in rather than places we long to be in. Where we call home, is arguably where we should be investing the most energy. This is where we form our closest friendships, start our families, and live our lives. Yet, many people seek to escape reality, often to far away lands instead of familiarizing themselves with what surrounds them, arguably what’s most important.
“Who and what we surround ourselves with is who and what we become.”
Take a moment to read the quote above and ask yourself: Why not explore, rather than travel? In the next couple of days, take 30 minutes to an hour to walk around your neighborhood. Be open minded, and let the seemingly familiar and mundane landscape surprise you.