Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain
Every one of us has a personal dream. A dream that belong solely to us. Not our parents, not our friends nor our society.
I too have a personal dream, and that is to travel the world.
Travel the world
Wanting to travel the world did not come after reading a copy of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love or some pop culture travelog made popular by some Hollywood script writer. It started many many years ago, when there was so much angst, after being punished for dirtying the wall, bullying my younger brother, and writing something stupid that I shouldn’t have in my diary. The need to travel the world then was a form of escapism to an unjust that was felt by a 7 year old. But 28 years of pre-programming later, still no amount of money and material comfort could replace the burning desire to travel the world.
I want to learn to trust my intuition Traveling in a foreign country can be brutal. Especially when traveling to a country where street vendors and bus drivers couldn’t understand the most basic form of English sentence. Yes, try getting into a cab in Ho Chi Minh or try ordering a bowl of pho from street vendor in Hanoi with no pictorial aid on the menu. The amount of innards that comes with it will shock the bejesus out of you. And don’t get me started with touts who’s friendliness appear to be all too inviting for one who is desperate for someone to talk to.
When I am on my own, I have only my instinct to trust. I learn to listen and pay attention to that pinching feeling and that little voice at the back of my head; on who to trust, what to do and which path to take.
I want to learn how to be in control of my finances Contrary to what was said on people born under the Scorpio sign, I’m terrible at managing finances. When you have more than enough, you fall into the trap of not understanding the value of money. Yes, I’ve fallen into the trap. Had too much, spent excessively on others and myself on things that I don’t need.
I’ve never had to save money for something that I really want. Not because I have a lot of money, but I do have enough. Besides, there’s always credit card laying around, waiting for me to exploit.
The planning stage for my round the world trip in 2013 has taught me how to re-evaluate my priorities when it comes to my finances. For the past 1 month, I’ve only bought one DVD (usually 4-6 a month),
I’ve refrained myself from shopping at Zara, Mark & Spencer and Kinokuniya bookstore. And most importantly, I’ve only visiting Starbucks twice in a month! (as compared to at least 3 trips a week).
And that’s not all, I’ve also managed to save 50% of my monthly salary for my travel fund for the past 2 months!
I want to free myself from 9-6 job Ever since I came across Tim Ferriss’s book, ‘The Four Hour Work Week’, I now understand that we can get so much work done and be more productive if we are not tied to our 9-6 job. I puzzles me on why do we have to spend one quarter of our life slogging in the office. If the purpose of our being is the have fun and to explore the wonders of this huge playground, then the concept of 9-6 defeat the purpose of having fun. Because, most of the city dweller work more than 8 hours a day, spent an average of about 3 hours stuck in the jam, and the remaining hours in front of the telly. Can you imagine living the rest of your life this this? I can’t.
That’s why I choose to leave.
I want to fall in love with all that is different from me We will never understand the real meaning of compassion until we are put in a situation where we have to learn to trust people who are of different background, skin color, language and culture.
Like it or not, every one of us is different. Our perception and our values are shaped by our education, social standing, religion, belief structure, past experience and a countless factors will affect human behavior and culture. If we are being surrounded by the same kind of people everyday, we will not understand and learn to love those who look, speak and smell different from us.
If we don’t travel to foreign lands, we would never know that in Russia, when a man peels banana for a lady it means he is romantically interested in her. Or the fact that it’s pretty common for men to hold hands in central Asia.
I want to be a better person than I am today I believe that traveling can mold us into becoming a better person. To help us unlearn and relearn our values in life. So that we can be more compassionate, to have the ability to see the good in others and to restore our faith in humanity.
All these and more…which is why I choose to quit and my job to travel the world.
Damn, it feels good saying that! 😀
Comentários