How traveling selfishly will serve you (and your world) a little better.
Forgive the title, but guys, we really need to talk.
Let’s start this off by saying that a lot of us are lucky. And for the most part, I think we realize and respect the notion that we are. No matter how hard we’ve worked or the achievements we’ve earned, we haven’t done it alone. And that’s okay.
One of the privileges that many of us have been granted is traveling. In all likelihood, most of our parents didn’t get to experience the types of travel that millennials have had the opportunity to try. I don’t think our predecessors would have it any other way.
Here’s the problem — we aren’t traveling for ourselves anymore. I say this not as a judgmental bystander, but as someone realizing its toxicity. Traveling has become a short-term high, mixed with the unhealthy idea that all of your special moments need a filter, sprinkled with the desire to impress whoever is screening your resume.
Note — This really has nothing to do with anyone who splurges on social media while they travel, but if I see one more goddamn photo of people voluntouring in Peru with the caption #blessed, I’m going to lose my shit.
We’re missing the point when we travel with this type of mentality. The idea that we are no longer traveling for ourselves.
Today marks the beginning of my 4th month living in Japan and I muddle through these questions all the time. How is my experience here going to affect what I do back home? I went from living in a city of 1 million people (Calgary) to 4 million (Montreal) to Tokyo, pushing 40 million. We’ve gone exponential people. But if I can survive Tokyo today, I can make it anywhere. I didn’t make Tokyo better by being here. But Tokyo sure as hell made me better.
Because here’s the thing, we need to go back to traveling for ourselves. Traveling selfishly.
You heard me. Get the most out your own experience. You are the center of your universe, and when you travel, that feeling amplifies. And that’s okay. It’s not morally deplorable to focus on yourself when you’re away from your comfort zone.
But how exactly do you travel for yourself? Because here’s what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean you disregard respect for the people and lands to which you are traveling. It doesn’t mean forgetting your decency. It certainly does not mean you lose empathy for those around you.
Just observe people. Watch what they do on their morning commute. The manner in which they talk to you. What do you like about their customs, what do you dislike? What are some things this place is doing right? Other than the food (which living in Tokyo, my god, the food is criminally delicious). What are people’s attitudes towards work? Relationships? Education? Crime? Get taboo if you have to! Talk about it with locals, or foreign friends you meet abroad. Listen to people, internalize, reflect, absorb and move on. You don’t need to change their lives, just hear them out, even if they aren’t talking right to you.
Even if all of us went to the impoverished country of our choice and did hard labor, it wouldn’t help. Our planet won’t be so easily fixed. And it won’t do the world any good if you travel somewhere and don’t change because of it. Your travels should mould you, inspire you and change the way you impact others. Let it be the reason you eventually start a business, run for office, start a charity, create an innovative product, cure a disease or work towards any type of change you think will make the world better.
No one is asking you to save the world. But if you’ve got an opportunity that 1% of humans have been offered, you better goddamn try.