Why I need to travel 🌍

There is so much more to life than meets the eye if you choose to seek it. The seeker becomes the finder, the finder of so much more than we thought was possible. - Wim Hof

Life beyond the norm

The short answer, I just wanted to get out. Out of the rat race, out of the cycle that society demands of me. Just being a number. Getting out of bed, going to work, and feeling miserable. Living life from paycheck to paycheck, from weekend to weekend, from holiday to holiday. Not living fully every single day. This freaked me out. Telling myself that this lifestyle is 'the safe option'. That this isn't too bad. As a fellow traveler from Scotland called it so delicately, being a tax slave.

I wanted an exit route, out of the mindset that I had to complete all these milestones in the correct order one after the other so that my life would be like 'the norm' Western society demands of me. I want to do something that I like and that brings fulfillment and joy to me. I want to feel that I give worth to other people's lives, contribute something to other people, and feel meaningful.

I'm not alone

I know that I'm not alone in this. I know that a lot of people roughly my age, in their twenties, feel the same way.

The psychology graduate, Jemma Sbeg, the host of the podcast 'The Psychology Of Your 20's', states that people are feeling lost. She claims that this all comes down to the expectation of being on the right path, right now. That you have to have everything figured out right now, in your twenties.

In our twenties, we are bombarded with all these life choices we have to make. Should I move to a new country? Should I go and get my bachelor's degree? Should I quit my job and go traveling? Should I move out and start living alone or with a partner or friends, and can I afford it? This variety of choices is paralyzing. We're overcome by the paradox of choice.

This is the case for the majority of people. But nobody talks about it. Everybody pretends that they have everything figured out because the social norm demands it from us. But if everyone pretends to have everything figured out and that they are on the right track etc. All of a sudden, you start to believe that you are the only one who hasn't, which eventually creates even more stress and increases the feeling of being lost.

Part of the feeling that you are lost, or directionless is that you must have sorted out your ideal life. A lot of people say 'I don't know what to do in my life.' and the implication is that it is a really bad thing. A lack of direction comes off as a negative. But it also creates a lot of opportunities.

I strongly believe that you can do everything you want to do.

The search

I've encountered this feeling of being lost a couple of times, and I still feel it sometimes! It pops up every now and then when I have to make a choice.

When I graduated secondary grade, I had no clue what I wanted with life. The only thing I knew was that I wasn't ready to work yet. I was 17 years old at the time. The internships in construction were something I had to bite through. It was not a profession for me, I didn't like one bit of it. In order to escape that line of work, I decided to go to college. I had no idea what course to enroll in. So I chose the safe option, something we are trained to do, take the smallest, most calculated risks. I enrolled in the Bachelor of Energy Technology. My background in electricity would help me out and some of my classmates were enrolling in the same bachelor.

During this time, I searched for what I wanted in life. I was drinking and partying a lot and didn't attend a lot of my classes. Looking back to this time, I met some wonderful people, I discovered that this line of work and studies wasn't for me and that I wanted to travel and explore places. This all seemed like a farfetched, unobtainable dream.

After three years, I quit. I enrolled in the Bachelor of Education: Secondary Education. This was a new safe choice. I knew I was good at talking and explaining, and it still met the requirements society demanded of me. This Bachelor was a better match with me and my strengths and weaknesses. I got good grades and attended most of my classes. COVID-19 happened during this time as well. I never forgot my dream. Even during these years, maybe especially during these years. An opportunity came and I took my shot. The Erasmus program.

I applied for the Erasmus program and got accepted. I even could go to my country of choice: Norway. With its raw nature, cold dark winters, lovely summers, and interesting culture.

The great escape

The Erasmus program was my great escape. It was everything I wanted and more. I worked for school, traveled, and had an active lifestyle. Hiking in nature added to the feeling of freedom. It was amazing. I met people from all around the globe and my partner Kiki, the most awesome human. My childhood dream, the dream that I re-envisioned during my former studies, became true. Unfortunately, only for seven months. We had to go back home, back to the demands of society.

Now that I graduated, the pressure to work, to "contribute to society", to spend all my time at work and settle for something I did not want, but society demanded, was building. Luckily we could postpone the moment a little bit. In Norway, we met with Dagny, a very bubbly person. Her father is a board member of a school in Cambodia. He invited us to work as volunteers there at the NGO as English as a second language teachers. The next adventure was already forming.