So, what’s wrong with the life that I am having now? In theory, there is nothing wrong with my life now. The only thing is it is not quite the kind of life I really wish to live! I don’t deny that I am enjoying a life that within the common social criteria is considered to be a very good life. A life many would believe they wish for. And I understand that. To me, it would have made sense only if really such life is what I aspire for. And it is not. 33 years had past since I have been playing it by the rules; doing what I should do rather than what I would love to do, walking the path of my own life but only within the boundaries of what is defined to be acceptable by the others, and racing after what others would expect me to achieve or become rather my own goals, dreams and vision of who I am as a person. 10 years have passed by since I have started climbing that renowned career ladder as a full time employee and I have reached long way ahead since then.
At 33 now, with a senior-management-level position as a R&D specialist in a market-leading organization, I am right on the right track looking at it from the society’s one-size-fits-all perception of happiness. When I look at it, I see 10 years passing by without me reaching the full of my capacity to make a value of my life. A value that is measured on a scale beyond the number of bills stashed in my bank account, a value higher than what would the title on my business card would imply or entail. Looking back at those 10 years down the road, the distance covered and the success achieved suddenly seem more like a little detour in the wrong direction. In other words, the journey was fruitful in the sense that through all of the experiences that I had to learn from along the way, I have became the person who I am now but I ended up in the wrong destination. Now it is time for me to get back on the road and head towards living a life of value (from my own perspective) by adding value to life itself. How am I going to do that? Now this is the million dollar question. To be honest, I will be lying if I said that I know exactly how. All I know for sure now is that I is definitely not what I am doing now…not within the walls of my cubicle anyway. So, I have decided to start following the sound of my heart and pay little if any attention to the voice of reason. I decided that I need to challenge myself, go out of comfort zone and challenge my own boundaries. And that’s how Crossing Borders became really alive.
Most of people have this recurrent day dreams of having the chance to just leave everything and travel the world for a while. And I am no different. I have always had this travel bug provoking those urges up my spine every now and then, but I have never took any serious steps towards making it a reality. Most of us, keep delaying embarking on such a trip either indefinitely or until they are retired –and even then, most of them end up not actually doing it. Now that I am following the beat of my own drum, I have decided to dance to the first tune on the list and make that long life dream a reality! I have traveled a lot during my life, mostly done independently constructing my own itinerary as I see fit for my needs. So, traveling in specific is nothing new to me but I have never done it for a period longer than 2 months at a time. This time, it will be different. This time, it is not a vacation or just a get-away kind of trip. This time, it feels more like a new chapter of my life is ready to be written. It feels more like an adventure of a life time. I admit that, for many people, this might sound unreasonable, crazy, extreme, and just scary. I agree. But to me, it is all part of what makes this trip even more exciting and more fulfilling. I am challenging myself beyond the borders of my own limitations to grow better and bigger as a person. I have decided to quit my day job, get out of my cubicle, sell all of my belongings (except for what I will take with me on the road), say goodbyes to my old life and use my savings to go on a journey that I have been only dreaming about for so long.
It is not necessarily a must for everybody to engage in such long-term traveling plans. To me, however, being exactly that is what entices me. For traveling to become my lifestyle rather than just a short break from reality (a vacation) is what allures me towards such trip. It feels somewhat like pursuing a master degree in the art of being alive! The only difference is that the whole world will be my campus, the different places and countries will be my classrooms and the people I will meet along the way will be my professors and teachers. Not quite a bad deal!
“What will you do when you are back from your travels, 1 year from now?!” People keep skeptically asking me. The truth is, I don’t have a solid answer to that question. And frankly, I don’t care what I will be doing then! I can do whatever I want to do, then! I have many roads in mind that I want to further explore and interested in venturing in. so no matter, what I will end up doing then, I know it will be something that I would love to do and enjoy doing rather than what I should or expected to be doing, period! The starting point now is to head outside on the open road and experience first hand the different cultures, ideologies and traditions around the world and get up close and personal with mother earth absorbing as much knowledge as possible for me to formulate a better understanding of my place within this world as a human being. Only then, I will be able to add value (however trivial it may be) to my life here on this planet.
