The Way Of The Traveller: How to See The World In Wonder
The feeling is back. The feeling of being a traveler, the feeling that I AM traveling right now. The kind of exhilaration that I live for is now pulsing through my system.
I didn’t even know it was possible to love my life here so much. It’s an ordinary life in many ways, but now I finally accept it, embrace it, cherish it.
I’m still working. Still going to the gym. Still reading books on my bed, but something has shifted. All of the micro-shifts I have been doing in the past 10 months must be snowballing.
My traveler heart is awake. My sense of adventure is teeming. My restless spirit has found the current.
I can feel it even as I woke up this morning. I asked myself, how would I feel if I know that I was hopping onto a flight today, in a few hours, to go to Italy? Pop. I’m out of bed. That is how I will approach the moments of this day: As if I am in Italy, and I happen to have a job doing what I love and it’s so fun to get to live this life!
Try it with me, it’s so fun to get to live this life!
Can you believe we get to do this?
Can you believe that we get to drive in these fancy cars on these fancy streets and work in these fancy offices and eat all this fancy food in the North American diet? Can you believe how much abundance and wealth we live in around here? And to think that I get to see this with my own eyes, to feel love, joy and contentment in my own soul, to know truth, eagerness and wisdom in my soul?
It’s so good to be alive!
I am blessed. I am so, so, so, so grateful for this day. I am so grateful for this life!
As I’ve written about before, It’s been a long emotional and spiritual journey to finally arrive at this place of contentment my heart.
Becoming A traveler again
I arrived in Toronto in August 2017 completely shattered. I just had a strange spiritual encounter and experienced the worst darkness that a human can.
I knew I had to come back to Toronto vs. keep traveling. I knew there was so much in me to heal. I was broken AF.
I thought when I landed a job at a church in February 2018 that things would get better. They did for a little but, I needed more. I still felt like a shell of my former self (which is better than wanting to die, but not enough to live).
2019, I set out to transform my life so that I could start creating content again.
I did partly out of desperation and exasperation. I couldn’t stand the thought of living another year in the city, doing the same thing without changing anything. But I never knew that I would get to experience this level of joy about my life in Toronto.
This month, I hit a tipping point. I decided not to cram my November with creative projects and instead give myself breathing space in my calendar. I left more afternoons open, instead of trying to do more work after work. I signed up for yoga membership so that I could do more classes and properly unwind.
My mind is bubbling with ideas for videos. I listen to music and already know what I want to film. My writing has gathered momentum. My confidence in my ability to create and thrive is through the roof.
As my traveler spirit arises within me, it is causing me to see my whole life differently. Here is what I see, what I am remembering.
How to see the world like a traveler
A Traveler Always Remembers That This Too Shall Pass.
What would it feel like to live in Toronto, as though I am just here visiting for a few years? There is a sweetness in the way I approach life as a traveller. I keep in mind that one day this experience will end. One day, I will look back fondly on these years, just I do for every trip and wish I had slowed down more to savour it. That is exactly what I’m doing.
2. A Traveler doesn’t cram her days with to-do lists.
As my traveler heart awakens, I am reminded that my purpose here is not just to do. It is be - be alive, present, full of energy. If I was in Spain for one day, I would not try to visit 20 sites. I’d pick a maximum of 5 and take my time through them. Nowadays, I might even pick 3, so that I can give self time to really take in the energy, the pulse of a place and its people.
3. A Traveler chooses courage.
Like anyone, she has her fears about security, safety, her career, but what makes her a traveler is that she chooses grow. She takes decisive action. She faces her fears. A traveller is aware that she cannot see past the horizon line, but she walks forward anyway. That is where the growth lies.
4. A Traveler wants to be changed.
A tourist journeys to see wonderous sites. A pilgrim desires to be changed by the journey. Of course, travellers love both. A traveler thrives on wonder, but she knows the real gold is in the growth. The more she grows in maturity, the more she
5. A Traveler leans into hardship.
When given the choice between the route that is easy or difficult, the traveler does not shy away from difficulty. She leans into it. We choose what is difficult because we know that we will grow more for it. She knows she will remember it more.
6. A Traveler holds every human encounter as precious.
There is a distinct knowing that every person she meets must be a divine orchestration. There are 7 billion people on this tiny blue planet floating in space. She can never meet all of them, no matter how much she travels, making every single person she does encounter a wonder.
What are the chances?
I remember that one day, even my coworkers may be a distant memory. What will I wish I said?
7. A Traveler must forgive quickly.
Someone rips her off because she looks like a foreigner? Yes, it sucks but she has learned to forgive quickly. Travel light. She doesn’t want to carry bitterness and resentment in her baggage. I must remember that I am blessed to even walk these streets. There are some people, many people in fact, who will never have the means to buy a plane ticket.
8. A Traveler savours every meal.
I don’t want to stuff my face, because then how am I going to walk around the Lourve in Paris for 3 hours? Usually, when I stuff my face, I am not considering that I want to actually enjoy the rest of my day. Even now, three years since I was in Paris, I’ll think of how the French eat. People have buttery croissants for breakfast and they are still thin. Eat slowly. Savour.
9. A Traveler delights the little things.
That drive on the modern highway to the random place? That’s special. Because she knows what it’s like to drive on sketchy highways where you could get pulled over anytime.
I’m so grateful for my tidy closet. I’m so grateful for my little creative studio. I’m so grateful for all that I’ve learned about myself.
10. A Traveler honours and acknowledges her growth.
Solo travel forces you into self-reflection. As I face my fears, without the judgements or opinions of others, I linger on the personal growth that is happening within. This year, 2019, I summited a mountain. I am sure I will summit much higher peaks in my life, but they will be masters because of this one, this year.
11. A Traveler values generosity.
Generosity precedes kindness and kindness makes the world go around. A traveller has made it this far only on the kindness of strangers: people who helped her with directions, people who opened their lives and homes, people who encouraged her.
12. A Traveler lingers in the miracle. In the beauty.
To think that we can hop on a plane and arrive in a completely new culture and country— this is the miracle.
To think that I hopped on a plane and landed in this culture and country—this is the miracle.
