Not So November
I know this blog post is late. I spent the past few weeks making my journey across Europe to South East Asia, where I’m currently posting this from my hostel bed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I’ve been working at my hostel in return for free board and a free meal, but the wifi has been broken for a bit — hence the late blog post.
On my Gap Year, there are plenty of goals I have created for myself. I intend to accomplish and learn new things about myself and the cultures I have surrounded myself with.
The first goal that I intend to achieve is to become more spontaneous. Adulthood is not easy and having lived with parents to guide me for the past 18 years of my life has made me very comfortable. I’m used to routine, to having things planned out and in all honesty, it makes me feel that I’m less adventurous than I’d like to be. Here is a Ted Talks that I watched encompassing the importance of curiosity. Instead of overthinking, I need to act and just do. In order to accomplish this goal, I know that I need to stop saying no to everything that isn’t within my comfort zone or familiarity and just go for it.
Another goal that I intend to achieve within my Gap Year is to learn more about the history of each country and culture I explore. Waking up hearing the Islamic call to prayer or watching a Taoist fire ceremony from my hostel balcony all spark my interest in learning more about why and what these cultures and religions celebrate. It makes me interested in learning more about their beliefs and values. I’m inclined to researching more about them, and in turn I believe that it makes me a much more open-minded individual. This in turn encourages me to be a more accepting and patient person, which then encourages me to make new friends. As Christopher McCandless wrote — “Happiness is only real when shared.”
The last goal that I think is one of the most important is to learn to live simply. Growing up with a privileged life, I never really understood the value of simple items like food and shelter. Traveling has made me much more aware of the unnecessary feeling of ‘need’ people feel for material items. Starting my trip I had at least five different outfits and four pairs of shoes, and I’m writing this with one pair of pants, two tank tops and a pair of shorts in my bag. I’m already learning so much about the superficiality of most items and how to be more cost efficient.
I know these goals are very specific and personal to myself, but I hope that by the end of my year abroad I can confidently say that I was able to achieve all of them.
