A Thousand Miles

YoSoyTejota
Aug 24, 2017 · 5 min read

Blog Numero 2: 8/24/17- Posted in London Heathrow, written while drunk on a plane.

Song of the Day: “Below My Feet”- Mumford and Sons

The further away from home I get, the more I realize I may have no home. The picture above is the California Coastline just south of Monterrey Bay. This is 3 hours from the place where I was born and raised and the place where I always find myself going when I do come “home”. This notion of home is something I do not quite understand, and has become rather foreign to me. Home is where the heart is, right? Well if that is the case than why is it one location, one place, one ultimate destination that is supposed to remind us of who we have been in the past. The thing about home, for me, is not that I don’t know where I came from, but that I am so aware of it that I have distanced myself from it. Distanced myself in a means of travel. Going further and further away to a new, different place. (For God’s sake I am on my way to Russia right now. If you had asked me if I had a desire to go there, even one year ago, I would say politely to fuck off, but times change.)

Maybe this isn’t making sense. Idk. What I am trying to say is that home for me is within myself. I do not mark it as a location on a map, but a place within my soul. I have tried and tried again to depend on places for relief, for comfort, but have continued to be saddened and disappointed. A year ago, I discovered a new location in myself through meditation (Wow, that sounds odd), but it is so very true. I rarely meditate anymore for whatever reason, but it did so much for me when I did it on the daily. It centered my soul. I was able to close my eyes and find home within myself and that still continues to this day. One of the main observations in the meditation is to close your eyes, breathe, and slowly scan your body to see how YOU are feeling. To see whats going on. As I closed my eyes and just let myself be I found a new world that only consisted of my being, in that exact, independent moment. All that I knew that existed, in that moment, was me. And through that I was able to disappear into my own world, even if it was just for 10 minutes a day.

So when I say I have no home, what I really mean is that I am always at home. I am my own home, my own rock, my own_________(you fill in the blank). I know that I can go any number of miles around the world, lay down, and go into a new world, where I feel like I am home. This discovery is the sole reason why I am able to travel and why I actively seek to travel and learn about the other world I am in because that is how Ilearn more about what is going on in my world, in my life.

I still get scared,nervous, anxious, pretty much every emotion when I plan to travel and while I am traveling, this is normal for nearly everyone. I still feel this way a lot of the time. I guess what I have ultimately discovered is that I have learned how to be comfortable anywhere and learned how to make home anywhere. The key for me is to stay grounded in where I am, not where I have been, because living in the past does no good for the present.

The more places I travel, the more I discover new facets about myself, and how to be grounded within myself, but more importantly grounded on this Earth. I may be one thousand miles away from where I grew up, but i am still in the same place. I am still connected to that place by the ground beneath me; and in a bigger sense we are truly all connected, and I see this realization lacking a lot in today's society. Which, as disheartening as it may be, is just part of life. Part of the reason I fell in love with Tokyo so much was because of this respectful, connected community that I saw in the culture. I was in a city of nearly 10 million people, yet it felt as if I was in a small town, where everyone was aware of the lives of the people around them. I am digressing a bit here, but as long as I am able to keep the Earth below my feet, I know that I can always be home; even if it is just for a short time.

But just as I mentioned a short while ago, all of that is in the past and a new 4 month long journey awaits. Am i nervous? Yes, a little, but what comforts me is the fact that I know who I am; and, more importantly, that I will always be home.

So… In conclusion, take a little time for yourself everyday and see what you can discover about your own world. Well, that is the sh-peel for today. Still trying to figure out exactly what this “blog” is going to be (I am thinking to maybe do travel, life, self-reflection, that type of stuff basically just depending on how I am feeling that day. So it may vary with each one). Maybe it will just end up being a place for me to talk about my own “philosophical” (not really though. Mostly basic shit) thoughts. Feedback is welcomed. Especially because I wrote this while quite drunk on my flight to St. Petersburg. Drunk enough to at least spill a little wine on the random British dude sitting next to me. It’s all good though cause he was a chiller. Those mini bottles of wine can really get to you.

“Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it”

Let me know what you think,

TJ “Big Kahuna” Schrette

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YoSoyTejota

Small business and Travel consultant. Freelance Writer and Journalist. Email me at tjschrette@gmail.com.

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