Traveling gives you an outlook and view that is only indicative of leaving your home, taking a risk, and going to a new place on a map.
Traveling is amazing; at the very least it is so because it puts life into perspective. It gives you an outlook and view that is only indicative of leaving your home, taking a risk, and going to a new place on a map. It is a whirlwind of adventure, new people, and an invigorating sense of life. But part of the way through it clicked that the fancy nights out and new experiences I was having could not replace the old ones. The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival could not make up for my lack of an Independence Day and fireworks. And I realized, it is not because one is better than the other, one just has my heart more.
Leaving my home was such a liberating experience. I only kept in touch with the people I wanted to. I only had to do things that appealed to me. Through this freedom, a mold slowly started to form of my likes and dislikes. What I missed and did not miss from home. I got to think about the things I want to continue when I am back, the things I want to change.
It was getting away that unintentionally made me think about my life: Who I truly missed, who missed me and made an effort to make sure I did not fall off the grid, and yearning for those small daily things I had taken for granted. Traveling is a third person outside perspective into your own life. Over time the important things, and people, in my life got evaluated by my not having them.
Sometimes it takes getting away to truly see what your life at home is. It takes experiencing new things to realize the old ones are what you truly want. Traveling taught me that home is where the heart is not because you start missing things from home, but because you realize that you would choose to have those things at home back again. Every time.
Article written by Rachel Chenoweth.
