I’ve dreamt of taking a winter trip up to Iceland for about 3 years now. To see the Northern lights, to dive the Silfra Cathedral (where you get to dive between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates with underwater visibility of about 80–100m), and to see the basalt-column-lined Svartifoss that featured in Bon Iver’s Holocene.
This winter, I did (all) the above. On 26 Dec 2015, one of my best buds and her sister came up to London. On 30 Dec 2015, we took off to the land of Fire and Ice. boy. Am I glad we did.
I don’t have the time to write out a full reflection on my trip right now for my unfinished dissertation sits heavily on my lap. But what I would say is this: Get Out There. I’ve never been one to buy into the fashionable trends of being ‘wanderlusty’ and ‘adventurous’. “Get Out There” means to faithfully and diligently pursue the things (not necessarily travel) you want so much, but that may have been held back by real considerations: family, work, time, friends and etc.
For those of you who know, I’ve been funding my travels by giving tuition, saving, and at times, doing part-time singing. There is great satisfaction in working for something and seeing it come to fruition, and I hope everyone around me will feel such satisfaction in the various passions they invest time and energy into.
Ever since coming to study in London, I have at times doubted my desire to travel and be in the Wild. A very intelligent friend once concluded, “Travel is either about self-distraction or self-discovery.” I didn’t want to be categorised in the former. I didn’t want travel to simply be an escape; travel shouldn’t reduce my ability to deal with the routine of every-day life. No, I wanted my travel to be a journey of self-discovery. A journey that better equips me for life even in the City.
“Pick a day, pack a bag, and go”. Sounds simpler than in reality. Sounds naive, perhaps. But it is the truth: it is a choice. It is up to each person to weigh their dreams in light of their current context. Every decision has an opportunity cost: you just have to decide which opportunity cost you will rather pay.
So if there is something you want to do, I encourage you to do it. At the very least, contemplate it heavily and deeply. I know I may not have used a particularly powerful example in the form of an Icelandic trip: a simple 8-day sacrifice for a Law student with many days of holiday. The sacrifice is not big in any way. But I’ve had many ask me how come I have the time to go out, how come I have the money to go out, how come I go.. how come..
I made a choice, and remain grateful that I have had the opportunity to make such choices.
“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma- which is living with the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your inner voice.” — Steve Jobs
