Scars Are Beautiful

Making a full circle around the Earth without the intention to do so is no easy task, but that’s exactly what I did. And somehow I ended up in Amsterdam. Bogged down with depression of life as a struggling actor in Chicago, I made the decision at a very young age to toss my degree aside and change careers. My ultimate goal was to travel and blog about what I would see, hoping to not only educate myself but also those back home. I taught English for a year in Taipei, then moved to Amsterdam to get my Masters. Instead of teaching as a means of travel, teaching became my new discovered calling. Travel was simply the prize hidden at the bottom of the cereal box. I learned not only what exactly I need to be happy but also my true reasons for leaving in the first place.
Many have said that the purpose of travel is to escape, to see unseen places, and to broaden horizons. But a list of clichés can’t compare to each individual’s personal motivation for shoving off from shore. In every life there is struggle that can hold us down, but the flip side are the effects which help us to grow. Struggles in recent news are all the more reason to want to push that from sight and instead breathe in the salt spray from a balcony at a Jamaican resort. But travel should not be just an escape. Travel should teach us the beauty in the small things. Travel is what can morph us into our better, truer selves. Travel should be a reminder that no matter how difficult life may be, it gets better. We can experience other points of view, from cultures who have been oppressed and those who have been oppressors. We can see that life is beautiful and strives to always be beautiful. Most of all, travel should make us recognize what makes our homes truly special and that time mends all wounds. Struggles help us to grow and the scars left behind are reminders to appreciate every peaceful moment.
That is how I ended up in Amsterdam. I left, thinking I needed to escape, but in the end it was to learn about life. I realized the beauty in the differences in Asian life. And now I am seeing the resilience of the Dutch, for example in their blasé attitudes toward their war-torn past. I left a broken heart in Chicago, to have my heart broken again and again by individuals, cultures, airlines, wildlife, and my own preconceptions about the world. I found my way to where I am now by wearing each scar with pride. I look forward to the time I can look back on each moment as a learning experience.