3 Rare Revelations From My 3 Month-Long Backpacking Journey Through Central America
And no these are not shortcuts in life.
I embarked on this journey with the intention to change my life by filling it with new experiences. But a quick revelation, a few weeks into the trip, baffled my beliefs.
I realized that apart from my cozy clothes, a couple of cameras, and a computer, I carry a burden of crippling thoughts and a history of painful events from the past. In the absence of familiar places and people, it quickly became apparent.
Changing the Perspective
In the summer of 2019, nine months after quitting my 9–5, I flew to Guadalajara, Mexico. From there I wandered south by land. A bus after bus I pondered in solitude and faced a few revelations. Three of those I want to share with you.
I traveled by myself. So solitude always accompanied me. Occasional English-speaking acquaintances allowed for cozy banter and rare emotional connections. But the lingering thoughts challenged me regardless of my geographical location.
The newness of a country, language, and culture can temporarily dim the light of undesired thoughts. But as soon as new emotions settle in, the same old thoughts surface to challenge their host again.
I couldn’t escape them. So with enough leisure I accepted the challenge.
You can change your name, your job, your residence. But if you don’t change your mind, the same experience will perpetuate itself over and over again.
The inner war seeped through my skin.
You know, those moments when you can’t help yourself but cringe at the sudden memory arisen from the depths of your soul. The moan mingled with sigh gushes out of you. You cover up your weird lurching with the melody of the only song you know while looking around to see if anyone noticed. Luckily very few people understood English.
When surrounded by the same old office walls, striding the same streets and blowing the same weekends, we fall in the rut. The repetitive events perpetuate. As a result, life becomes bleak and we begin to blame our jobs, people, and even our parents for the lack of excitement in our life.
When traveling though, everything changes. With nothing to blame, you turn to your tormenting thoughts and painful memories. And those elicit unwanted emotions. The negative reinforcement loop kicks in.
To steer my life away from the repetitive unwanted experiences I needed to change my attitude of mind. So I faced my forgotten feelings and revisited buried emotions. I meditated turning my heed inward.
I began to realize that the lingering thoughts inside my head determine the quality of my life. So I dove into the weeds of my own head. Ever since that epiphany, I carry more fulfilling existence on a daily basis preferring experiences over things. Speaking of which,
Prefer Experiences Over Materialistic Possessions
Two years before my journey, I began saving up money. Minimizing all my belongings and abstaining from unnecessary shopping, I realized that I need a lot less than I always thought. My minimalist life began.
I started measuring, using my own units, the amount of satisfaction I receive from a new experience as opposed to a new toy. The experiment led to downsizing and living out of a suitcase. Which turned out to be useful in the upcoming traveling.
Once on my journey, I followed the same approach. Physically limited by the amount of stuff I can carry, I was loath to buy ANYTHING. I would deliberate over which hat to buy or whether I really need a third pair of socks. But, I never hesitated to pay $30 to enter a tiny Maya site. That price didn’t even include a guide by the way.
The high paced journey saturated my life with memorable moments.
The idea of saving money to buy something substantial for retirement started sounding stupid. I doubted my previous beliefs about values. Nothing sounded worth possessing anymore.
When we keep acquiring more things, at some point we lose the ownership and they start owning us!
Prefer adventures and prefer them NOW.
Don’t Save Adventures for Retirement
Warren Buffet once shouted:
Following the career advice “It’s gonna look good on your resume” is like saving up sex for your old age!
A minor ailment struck me at the very beginning of my journey. Nothing too serious. Merely diarrhea and nausea. The tropical climate, heat, food, water, mosquitoes, what to blame? I didn’t care back then. I wanted it to end. And it did. Two days of recovery, however, seeded some doubts in my mind. I did not want to suffer like that anywhere on my journey.
But a more severe case emerged two weeks later. Heat. Vomiting. Fever. Diarrhea. The diseases seemed to follow me around. I don’t recall ever getting so sick in the United States. I felt defeated and wanted to quit.
During the recuperation period of five days, I lay flat in an air-conditioned room. Thank god it worked well. It gave me a lot of time to deliberate and ponder about my trip.
Getting sick revealed some great insights. It’s all about health! To get through the tortures of food poisoning during my adventures, I can only rely on my immune system. Staying in great shape will enhance my experience. Mighty lungs will propel me on a hike to the top of a volcano in Costa Rica. Healthy knees will make any walk a breeze.
Had I had poor health, who knows how severe those ailments could have been and how much toll would it take on my body? The younger we are the more chances we have to seamlessly fight off ailments without them inhibiting our journey.
Another reason to not put off traveling is ever rising responsibilities and expectations.
Think across the entire span of your life. Before you fledge, your parents take care of you. In your early adulthood, you might still depend on your parents. By the age of 25, you might have paid off your loans and became independent and self-sustained. By the age of 30, you might have some capital and a career.
Well now, the snowball of responsibilities and expectations is rolling faster than ever.
You keep postponing your dreams into the far future drawing temporary satisfaction from short vacations once or twice a year. But the idea of a big journey haunts you and you keep defying it.
Years pass by without your participation. Time to form a family of your own arrives. Your dreams retreat to retirement and you justify that with “preferring stability”.
That’s why travel now! While you can. Even on a budget with limited comfort. While your health allows. While you can endure the hardships of a journey. While your resilient immune system can put a fight with ailments. While you have what it takes to deprive yourself of sleep when your flight gets delayed. While you can afford to eat junk food in the absence of alternatives.
We all will yearn for our youth once it’s over. So at least let’s fill it with memorable experiences.
If a prickling feeling of missed opportunities keeps you awake at night, with years it will only amplify. They will haunt you with increasing intensity. Don’t let them. Act now.
