Wherever you go, there you are!

Why do we travel? Or change jobs? Or even move to a different country? Some might say that they need a change of pace, or they have more practical reasons like family or kids and so on.

Someone once asked me a long time ago about why I love to travel to new places. This was around 4 or 5 years ago when I was feeling a little lost personally and struggling to find out what I really wanted to do career-wise. So my first instinct was to say, "I travel so I can get away from it all".

So the next logical question was, "Does it make you happy?". I was at a loss for words, and I lied saying yes, of course I was happy. But in truth, even though I was travelling and seeing new places and meeting new people,I was still very unhappy. And I couldn't figure out why. So I decided to confront the one person I was most afraid of confronting - Myself.

Over the years I have learned that you can travel, you can be around people all day, get into relationships, post a hundred photos to your social media accounts and be the envy of all your friends, but if you aren't happy with yourself, all of these things mean nothing at all. Because wherever you go, the one thing that remains constant is YOU! You can probably escape that job for a little while and put a hundred miles between you and the rest of the world, but no matter what you do, you can't escape yourself. The one thing that you have to learn to live with, is you. And until you learn to be comfortable spending time with yourself, you will always feel out of place no matter where you go.

We build our own cages and then call them 'limitations'. Sometimes there are circumstances that lead us into this feeling of self doubt and the need to create an escape. But no matter how far we run, we're only running from ourselves. It's true what people say about one's thoughts being their own worst enemy, because what we think of ourselves eventually reflects on the quality of life that we have. Some people may be bound by circumstances, but the mind is a powerful thing and having the will to overcome the tough phases in life is what makes one a stronger and a wiser individual.

If someone were to ask me again about why I love travelling and if it actually makes me happy, I can now answer them honestly by saying "Yes. Of course it makes me happy, because I get to see all these amazing places and meet all of these amazing people." I'm no longer trying to escape from myself because I realise that no matter where I go, there I am!

#travel #self #Positivity #limitations #happiness