TRIAL AND ERROR
As fun as it is for some (for others maybe not so much), traveling really is a complex, for lack of a better word, thing to experience. So many different layers and feelings it takes on and brings out. First and foremost, I need to put it out there that I am grateful and very fortunate to be able to have, and continue to have, these experiences being able to travel. Whether it's a lesson learned regarding life in general, or something new I figure out about myself. Each day there are experiences that challenge me, encourage me, and definitely never cease to teach me.
Being able to travel and experience life as it develops is my aspiration, my goal, and my dream to follow. That, I give to the year I spent living in Brazil. It ignited the little fire, the passion, under me. Again, I can try to explain the passion and do that year justice, but it will never fully happen. Isn't that what the feeling of accomplishment, growth, and understanding should feel like after traveling, anyways? An experience you can try to describe, you can try to do it justice, but it never hits home for the person you are telling, as hard as it does (or did) for you. Speaking from my perspective, that's how I feel! To be able to assimilate into another life, build it from scratch, and genuinely feel apart of a new place is so special, and something you should be proud of. Whether it's through learning the local language, loving the routine that you finally mastered, or finding that family within the people you meet, making it so worthwhile. And all that, is what I found in that tiny town in Southeastern Brazil.
Fast forward to my travels now, I was sitting at a picnic table just the other day writing, and I took a theoretical step back and looked at the situation I was in, from the outside. Looked at me sitting at the table, alone, writing. People passed here and there, and I just kept writing. It was interesting because for a long time I was content, focused, and motivated to do what I needed to do. I was at a hostel, so people walked in and out, each traveling from somewhere more different than the last, and each carrying an unparalleled story, original to only them. Maybe some stories of friends overlapped, but for the most part, I thought of it individually. In this hour, or so, of sitting there not one person walking in or out knew me, nor did I know them.
But I guess this happens even walking on the streets. Every one is somewhat of a stranger, right? Well, sitting at that picnic table, I could feel that everyone coming and going was all so similar, but then again all so unique. But you would never know the extent until one breaks that curiosity and imagination, and simply greets the other. From then on, your stories have a bit of overlap, until you go your separate ways and it all fades again. Teaching you something, or not. Letting you in, or not. Sharing similarities, or not. Just like a wave hitting the shore from the ocean. The new wave arrives only to fade back into the ocean, mixing back together all becoming the next new wave.
In this moment of sitting at the picnic table outside of the hostel. I thought that one of the magical things about traveling is that you can be whoever you want to be. Confident, introvert, extrovert, sarcastic, charming, the list goes on. You can choose. Like me, with people I just met, I am not the most out going or confident version of myself. But in these situations, I can try and be just that. I can learn from myself what to do and what not to do. Trial and error, yes! Thats it. Trial and Error. And if you make a fool out of yourself they are usually in the same boat and it doesn't seem so embarrassing anymore. Anyways, we are only human, right?
Maybe it is just me, not knowing myself fully. Or maybe it is people like me, in the same stage of life, but you can switch it up all you want. Walking around town you could be curious and timid one day, and even famous the next, or trendy and risky the day after that, you choose. You can try new trends maybe you wouldn't try at home. Or you can stick to your comfort choices because they just work, and that's not a bad thing either. But traveling seems like it opens doors on letting you use your imagination on what, or who, you want to be, and how the world perceives you. It is a bunch of short practice shots time after time, making it easier to figure out what works best. Not in the sense that you need to forget who you are, or where you came from, but that it is all just good fun, and why not take advantage and enjoy!