Discovery
If you have read my blog at all, you know that I love to travel. Nothing is more revitalizing than stepping away from your problems at home and encountering a whole new set of problems abroad. It turns the monotony of a normal day into something much more challenging and rewarding. New sights, new smells, and new sounds make the most normal, mundane activities eye-openers. Even a trip to the grocery store becomes a learning experience. Travel is truly a way to revisit childhood fervor.
However, long-term travel can also be extremely isolating. That isolation is what draws me to new destinations, but eventually, pulls me back home. The sense of being anonymous (for the most part) is freeing, but it can also be extremely suppressing. It is solely up to you to create your own sense of self-worth, because friends and family are not always physically there to reassure you. My presence is valued by V and, to an extent, by his family, but outside of this immediate household, my existence has been felt by very few people. My life hasn’t made an imprint like it has back at home, obviously.
Yet, I love the challenge of it all. I love to integrate myself as much as I can, and I love to discover new aspects of myself that were buried deep inside before. Travel has proved to me how adaptable I really am and how little I need to thrive. Of course, I miss my material things, but having a small suitcase full of clothes vs. a walk-in closet, has not really affected my sense of self-worth or my overall happiness. Travel is truly about the journey of self-discovery, above all else.
Comments
14 Responses to “Discovery”Trackbacks
Check out what others are saying...-
[...] Brook gets very introspective this month with her post on discovery. Or self-discovery, in this [...]
-
[...] Brook gets very introspective this month with her post on discovery. Or self-discovery, in this [...]
Truly awesome post :) Perfectly said, and so true!
you are a hell of a brave woman. i like to travel and see new places, people and things, but i am scared of planes and i get so FRIGGING NERVOUS being in unknown areas. it is exciting, and scary, and fun, and taxing, all at the same time for me. i think you handle it WAY better than i do! :)
AND it’s even better when you have someone wonderful to do it with. ;-)
I think this is such a beautiful post! I think it says so much about you! Its lovely….also, who needs more then a small suitcase, when there are grey shirts :)
I think you capture the pros and cons of traveling really well. It is so freeing to be anonymous, but you’re absolutely right, it can feel suffocating and lonely too. I love traveling, no matter where it is. I think each place has something to offer and some new experience. What I really enjoy is how travel can make you see ordinary, mundane things in a completely, shockingly new, light.
bruk!!!!!!!!!! omg i missed you. i have missed your wit and your amazing writing. and how , when i read something you have written, i nod in agreement and realise you word things i feel.
i am going to go and read the rest of the posts i missed now. hope its ok if i dont comment on them all. have a massive headache from all this computer-ing today. but i cant wait to see what you have been up to xxx
I spent close to 15 years of my life overseas and I know just how truly isolating it can be. I never really got to know my grandmother, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles. I missed a lot of the typical “American” stuff growing up overseas (malls, clothes, going out to the movies, etc.) and after the 14th year of living overseas I was ready to come “home”. And then when I did it was literally a culture shock, I was isolated for so long I didn’t quite fit in and I was a foreigner within my own country. Now I’m ready to leave again, haha, guess it shall come around full circle for me.
Your words resonate with us! Well written, well said. We like your style Brooke!
That is very cool Brooke. I really envy your experience in Lithuania.
I am so jealous, the only traveling I do is fly up to NY twice a year to see the kin folk. Maybe one day…
Yes, yes, yes. Totally get how exciting a trip to the grocery store is when travelling. Or even posting a letter. And I totally get how lonely one can feel. I did a month in Italy. And I was sitting in a train and EVERYONE was talking to each other. And I couldn’t understand a single sentence. Never ever felt so alone before.
I am just loving your blog!