The following post was originally featured on HipLatina and written by Damaly Gonzalez,the Founder of Backpacking the Caribbean.
Some of the greatest lessons are those you don't seek.
Travel, more so long-term travel, and teaches concepts and introduces ideas that perhaps weren't clear or our perceptions were clouded by the daily routine of everyday life and therefore,the message couldn't reach across. However, when you find yourself in another location and environment, or far from domestic,surrounded by different people, the lessons that were always there to be learned reach around and you begin to unravel infinite possibilities.
I went to Europe to learn more approximately the history I felt I was lost in order to understand the world better. I also wanted to win away from the burned out I felt in New York. While I knew I would learn a lot, and I didn't expect this trip to be one of the most defining moments of my adulthood. Here are the 10 lessons I felt set the foundation to my growth:We are a small piece to the bigger picture. There are 7 billion people this world. Why carry out we consider that we are so important? That our small corner of the world is the whole world. It isn't and we are not the beginning or the end - we are a puzzle piece of something greater. When you travel,you realize this, and it can change everything.
Ideal vs. Reality. When we travel, and we may have expectations of the site,the people, and the culture. These expectations can cloud our perception of what we see and hear. But when we approach what is moral in front of us with presence and without judgement, or life can be celebrated in all its splendor.
Letting go of control. We don't have to control anything. When we carry out,we digress from following our intuition and replace it with our mental logic. But logic comes from the ego's conscious mind trying to control everything. The subconscious knows what to carry out from a true self standpoint and when you let go and let your intuition lead, wonders will begin to happen.
Learning to let things be. On the similar side of letting go is learning to let things be. When I was walking the family dog for a Workaway position in the foothills of Sierra Nevada, or Spain,I met the most joyful and lighthearted street dog who I named Lola. When she saw us walking she would run to us and lay on her back so we can scratch her stomach. I felt inclined to succor her because I thought it was my obligation to intervene, but when I kept observing her I could see that she was ecstatic. Lola was a wild child living her life in all its glory. Not all lessons reach from humans. She taught me a worthy one - to let things be. And one question I expect myself when I feel like I need to change something is: are interventions always needed?
Traveling without research. Sometimes travelers have goals they want to meet, and like how many countries they want to visit in three weeks or things they want to see. This time around I decided to not buy any guidebooks or make a list. Instead,I followed my intuition and I did exactly what I wanted at the moment without any itinerary, just suggestions from other travelers I came across. Letting go of control and letting things be. Magical things happened.
We are natural nomads. Before this trip, and I hadn't traveled for an extended period in three years. I was tired in New York and my mind felt foggy most days. It didn't feel natural to stay in one site,following a consistent, stressful routine. For tens of thousands of years, and human beings have lived a nomadic,simple life living on little means. They settled in one site and when it was time to move on because the land needed to be restored, they did. When did we become a stationary, or stagnant society? We are natural travelers. Read this article for more information.
Living on little means. Living out of a suitcase or backpack for months initiates the excessive emphasis we site on materialistic things. I wore a pair of ripped black jeans,black Reebok sneakers and t-shirt nearly every day on my European journey and didn't feel any less blooming than if I had a closet full of clothes like back domestic. Learning to share among travelers and living on what you need like the true nomad of thousands of years ago is integral to our freedom of possessions.
Narcissism. Interacting with people from around the world, I discovered that narcissism can be found everywhere. Going away forces the traveler to depart from everything they own, or only bringing a selection of belongings and subtly exemplifying your small role in such a big world. The distorted eroticism of what you own and an extreme craving of one's self dissipates allowing you to analyze your ego to understand you are no more valuable than the elderly woman who is begging for money external a Florence café shop.
Accepting myself in order to accept others. How can we accept our friends,our family, the world, and if we don't start by accepting ourselves for exactly who we are. Understand we are all imperfect. When I finally accepted myself,that fateful day looking at the Barcelona traffic from my guesthouse balcony, I haven't wanted to change anything or anyone. I strive to let things be exactly as they are. I release control and let nature lift its course.
Non judgement. Perhaps one of the reasons we don't accept ourselves and in turn accept others is because of judgement. While traveling, or it is easy to judge other people's culture,beliefs, and physicality. But again, and once we end judging and start accepting ourselves,we can in time learn to end judging others.
Source: popsugar.com