Finally February

February brings about the promise of spring and marks the halfway point for my Gap Year journey. More things are going well than are not at this point of my trip. Although not EVERYTHING has gone so smoothly these past few months.

I found that whilst traveling in South East Asia, I got a little too comfortable with traveling between countries — so much so, that I became neglectful towards researching Visa requirements for countries I planned to go to. For a specific example, I had plans to go to Vietnam after traveling around Thailand the past month. Upon arrival at the airport, I wasn’t allowed to check into my flight because I hadn’t known that I needed an ‘approval’ letter for my Vietnam Visa. Because of my negligence, I missed my flight.

Other challenges include managing my mental health and stress levels. I find that as I’ve been traveling, it’s been increasingly difficult for me to sleep at night because I overthink my future plans. Thinking about what I want in a career, thinking about how I’ll get a driving license, or where I’ll be living.

However, there is no use in fretting over what you cannot change. The only way to overcome these challenges is to face them head on. I tackled my worries about school/college and my living situations by setting up a plan to follow in the upcoming months. To overcome my negligent situations, the only solution really is to not worry about the past, and just move forward. As the months pass, I’m learning from my mistakes constantly. I’ve learned not to assume things of certain places and I’ve definitely learned not to expect things.

As I move forward, a lot of my plans are now centering around focusing on college. Aside from college plans, the next few months I plan to wrap up my Gap Year in South East Asia, and maybe return to the states for some volunteer work closer to Florida so I’ll be better prepared to enter Florida State this summer.