Tag: exploration

“Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.” ~ Paulo Coelho You can call me a weirdo, but I disliked traveling until I came across a feeling never experienced before.  That feeling screamed out loud: ‘Travel… not to die an illusionary death. Because if you don’t, you are already dead.’   Yes, it’s one of the experiences that helped me heal, to deal with my fear of traveling. How did this feeling of revival set up? It started with listening to anecdotes of traveling experiences shared by the travel lovers, alias hodophiles. I am an intense listener, could feel every moment, every emotion, as if I was there. Some narrated their exploratory treks; many revived their crazy party experiences. While some expressed their nature-tripping adventures, almost everyone rolled out their love for road trips. Wow… What energy I gasped listening to every experience and wondered if I could ever feel the same. The curiosity to meet new people, the adventures of exploring new destinations, the excitement to try different cuisines- all these had been missing throughout my life. This is when I realized it’s not just another trait, but a real obstruction to my life exploration. It was a problem I needed to fix soon. Unlike before, I wanted to unlock the caged traveler dying inside my mind’s prison, hoping for liberation, to see an all-new beautiful world. I interrogated my retrospection to find out, what’s stopping me? Here’s the reason guilty to deprive me of memorable experiences: I didn’t know...Excitement is the other way of looking at Fear This is interesting: Hodophiles shared not only their after-travel experiences with me but also their feelings before heading to trips. I discovered a beautiful trait common in each of them- they were intrigued by what next element. New people, unexplored destinations, traditional cuisine, native language, local climate- they were already in love with what was coming next. They looked forward to tasting the new experience, felt excited about the change. When I related my thoughts to theirs, the observation surprised me. Our thoughts didn't differ, in fact, they were the same. Even I thought about the new people, the changing climate, and all of that which travel lovers found intriguing. Yes, even my mind could foresee the changing situations, but the question prevailed: Why was my every traveling beat falling flat? I didn’t get there straight away, but after hovering over the possible reasons, and surpassing all my assumptions, I finally discovered the answer. Even though I encountered the same thoughts as travel lovers but I could never feel the way they do. They were excited about the same thoughts that I found fearful. Yes, that was the difference, the realization which was missing until many years of my monotonous life. I was in love with my comfort zone. And its thick boundaries were repulsive to the ‘what next’ element. For that, I could never experience the new consciously. It led to apprehensions, eventually making way for fear to rule my mind. I had begun to hate traveling. In circumstances where I had no choice but to travel... Fear never allowed me to explore,...