As a 20-something in today’s day and age, I move around rather frequently. It was all fun at first, with Disney’s Aladdin soundtrack of “A Whole New World” set on replay. But when I realised well, there’s no magic carpet, just 8 hour back to back flights of try hard, below average food and sitting still in a 17.2” by 31” wide seat pitch space, it was pretty disheartening.
See, I have realised that I am not so much the #wanderlust or the #forevertraveller, but more of the “Wait… – I have to go all the way there, to do all these wonderful, magical things.” Yes, I do sometimes lack the patience or the efficiency to manage my time, but I believe my frustrations run deeper.
Has the world become a smaller place? When you think about it, the world indeed does feel smaller. If you have the available finances and convenience of transport, happening upon a holiday villa in an alcove of Europe or visiting a friend on a whim in a different continent is more than plausible. And some might fairly argue that air travel will or in some places have become commonplace.
But this begs the question – doesn’t that make the world so much bigger as well? For instance, now that all this magic is within your reach, you are open to options that were never previously conceivable, even to your parents. People who are probably the closest to you (especially if you are living with them), who by no fault of their own, just do not have the tools and experience to give you appropriate, sound advice just because they were part of a completely different society. That being said, while being incredibly wonderful and magical, things can definitely get overwhelming very very fast.
Hence, with this constant drive to see more, I think, “experiencing new things”, which is inherently extremely beneficial, has become an unnecessary obsession that we tend to forget the little things – the little magic around us. It then becomes easy to assume that if you are not part of the traveling game, you are out of the real life game.
But the truth is you are not. You are not out of anything. Whether you are one to travel or settle down, there is so much magic in and around you that you can and must engage with. So seize the day boys (and girls), don’t let the day and world seize you.