How travel changed my life

"In a fast paced world it's not a sin to stop or at least slow down, savor every moment and breathe."

                                                     - The Lakwatserang Negra

I stumble upon Traveloka’s blog writing contest earlier today while I was scrolling through my Facebook feed. I am not really planning to join but the theme played and challenged me to think about how travel changed me over the years.

It was way back in 2012 when I started traveling with friends. An exciting year indeed; I got a decent job, moved out from home and learned to live alone. Basically, I experienced what freedom taste like.

To give you a little background about myself, I am my family’s bread winner that’s why at first I find it really hard whether to choose the life of travel or just enclose myself to the four corners of my office cubicle. 

Few months later, I discovered that traveling does not have to be expensive which push me to go on with my journey.

Reminiscing really help  me find answers on how travel changed me that’s why I came up with a LIST!

When I started traveling… 

1.   I learned to invest less on material things which made me realize that not all good things can be bought; sometimes it's just sitting there waiting to be explored.   
   
2. I found myself, I hope you won't take me literally on this but seriously speaking I did found myself. I was in limbo with no direction, in traveling I knew what I wanted to achieve. It helped me set not just short term but long term goals. 
   
3. I discovered my limits. I never expected that in my entire lifetime that I would do something crazy that is totally out of my league like wake boarding, surfing (even joined an amateur competition and was able to reach the semi finals twice!) and now skin diving. I know I love the water so much but there is something about it that scares me.
    
   
4.  I learned to be Carefree. I'm a type of person that makes sure that everything goes according to plan. I easily get frustrated whenever something happen unexpectedly but now I learned to just go with the flow and let my feet take me wherever. An exciting life it is!  
   
5.  I learned to connect with wonderful people in the backpacking scene; people that served as my life Inspiration. 
   
6.  I gained Confidence. I've always been the insecure one but when I started traveling I discovered that all of us are unique that's why I stopped comparing myself to others. It made me believe that there is something in me that others don't have. 
   
7.   I learned to be Independent. I make my own itinerary which taught me to negotiate with other people and improve my haggling skills. Being alone also made me realize that there's still goodness in people and we are still trustworthy.
   
8.  I learned the art of "Me time" by traveling alone every once in a while which helped me reflect about life, nature and anything under the sun. 
   
9. I learned to connect with mother earth.  I'm not proud of it but when I was younger I used to throw trash everywhere as long as no one is looking but when I started traveling I realized that I should also help in conserving our world because it's the only heritage that we can give to the next generation. As a resident of the earth we should act as an Advocate because we are her only voice. We should do our part and it's a MUST! 
   
10. I found my bliss, I may not have all the resources that I need but who cares, I don't want a life that sits all day at the office making money, drowning myself at work while life is slowly slipping through my fingers, that's not a living, that's purely surviving. What I want is to wander wherever this once in a lifetime journey takes me as long as my fund can afford it.
    
    
    
    I already shared a lot so let me wrap this up with a little reminder:
    Live Free | Worry Less | Travel More
    

#TravelokaPH, #WhyITravel #TravelokaStories