Traveling Changed My Life

Traveling changed my life.

When I was fifteen years old, I was uprooted from my place of origin. I was plucked from everything I’d known; everything I expected to grow up to be. I was thrust from one end of the soil to another. I was fifteen, somewhat pessimistic, and painfully growing into ‘me’. I was hormones and existentialism and anxiety.

I remember driving through the mountains of West Virginia. They were the first mountains I’d ever seen, rolling and unending, their backs swept with a jagged spread of sprouting trees. They truly brought along the realization of how far I was away from home, and how much further I had to go…but simultaneously, I was in awe. The potential enormity of the world was like an appreciative shock to my system.

I had the pleasure of seeing Mt. Rushmore. I drove through South Dakota in the midst of a terrifying tornadic storm. I was engulfed by the mountainscape of Idaho, swerving around curves with no railings, my stomach flipping at the thought of a potential fall. I drove through the vast expanse of Wisconsin—a seemingly endless webbing of farm and grassland. I vividly remember California and Oregon. I remember rugged hills, desert, and black soil cradled by the arms of heaving gray clouds.

I moved to South Korea when I was sixteen. I stood out like a sore thumb there—my skin unapologetic and brown and conspicuous. I didn’t know Hangul and I never did learn. Being a military brat enabled me to enjoy certain advantages in a country that I considered foreign. Yet, despite cultural differences, and the lumbering shadow of neighboring North Korea, I was still able to thoroughly enjoy my time there. Being on the South Korean peninsula allowed me to ignore the woes of my own country. The United States felt like it was a million miles away…and strangely, I grew to not mind all that much. It allowed me a level of anonymity that couldn’t be granted otherwise.

I do miss it. I infrequently suffer bouts of wanderlust, aching to be somewhere and unattached; somewhere that no one knows me and I can just breathe and appreciate. No obligations, no expectations, no stagnancy. I often watch documentaries on other countries. I see these places and I know that I’m going to go to them one day. These are not fleeting dreams for me. I can’t imagine living a full life and not seeing a nice chunk of the globe. I can’t imagine living life and being confined to one place.

I haven’t yet cast my sails, but I am certainly working towards my future. I’m excited for it.