I’ve been home from the race for about a week, and I have been able to reconnect with my friends and family who I missed so dearly during my time overseas. People continue to ask me questions like, “how was your trip?” and “what was your favorite place?” and “did you get homesick?” While these are all valuable questions that I am of course happy to answer (it was good, Guatemala, and yes), my FAVORITE question to be asked is, “what did you learn?” I like this question because I think it gives value to my last nine months, and it gives me the opportunity to explain that I didn’t spend ALL my time hiking up waterfalls and eating exotic foods. I learned a lot. Way more than I could ever explain in one conversation or blog post. But organization is important to me so I made a list to illustrate the main takeaways that I feel most shaped my time on the World Race.
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GRATEFULNESS
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How to live in community
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How to invest in others
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My own personal ways of coping with struggles and hardships/ how to cheer myself up
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Journaling
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Self-care
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Reading books
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Laughing or making someone laugh
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I learned that STUFF doesn’t bring me lasting joy. And I know this is cliché and everyone always says that money can’t buy happiness but I mean I REALLY learned it. I applied it to my life and I actually understand/practice this concept now. When before it was just a phrase to me that wealthy people threw around when they were having a hard day.
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How to be comfortable being alone
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How to manage my anxiety in a way that is both healthy and productive
All pretty valuable lessons in my opinion and they came at a cost. Thank you for loving me and supporting me through this journey. Thank you for reading my blogs and writing me letters and liking my rare posts on facebook. I had the time of my life on the World Race but it feels so so good to be home.
XO,
Lucy Kane
