Have you ever thought about traveling the world to find yourself? Running away from everything you know, in order to find your soul? Leaving everything behind in order to get a taste of adventure and experience what truly living feels like?
I can’t necessarily say that’s the reason why I left Missouri and decided to travel the world.
I just knew there was more of life that I was missing; my soul was missing something.
So I packed my bags and set out on a journey to see what the world had to offer me. To see what the world had that maybe I was missing.
What does it look like to go soul searching, and what does it mean to find yourself? Well here’s a tip to know: if your soul isn’t healthy, you’re not healthy either.
Your soul is in control of your whole wellbeing.
So if your soul isn’t well, you’re not well.
Your soul is the most important part of you.
Let me tell you, this journey is nothing like what I expected! The world holds so many stories of joy, sorrow, craziness and excitement, but even so, there are still people on the other side of the world just like us. They like to watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians, eat ice cream, go shopping and even riding on the back of motos.
They are just like us.
Even in communities where they have almost nothing, kids are still running around playing tag, swinging on their broken swings, and giggling with their friends.
The women stop and say hi because that might be the only English they know and they want to be friendly.
In Asia they’ll invite you in for tea and chat with you for hours. In Africa they enjoy just walking places with you. Some of them have almost nothing to call their own at all, but they still find joy in their everyday life, and want to share that joy with you too.
I can’t say I found myself on the other side of the world, because honestly I think I knew myself all along. I just needed to find a place where I could fully be myself.
Being stripped of all your comforts allows you to be the true you, because you have nothing to hide behind. So maybe going around the world didn’t help me find myself, but then again, maybe it did.
My soul was longing for more, to go deeper. But I didn’t need to travel all over the world in search of that.
I’ve been gone for 7 months now, and I’ve learned that if you set routine and disciplines and boundaries you WILL “find yourself.”
It takes for YOU to make those changes, not just changing your surroundings. You have to want more for yourself, and find it in your everyday life. It doesn’t take traveling across the world to find yourself. It’s finding yourself in your everyday life, and finding what makes your soul happy.
If that’s traveling, then go travel.
Maybe it’s spending time with your family; maybe it’s drinking a great cup of coffee with an amazing friend; maybe it’s making music or just being creative.
Whatever it is, find what makes your soul happy and that’s where you’ll find yourself.
