After Highschool the plan I heard most from my friends was that they wanted to travel.
The reason for this dream was mainly as I heard over and over again that they wanted to find themselves.
I myself am no exception. I mean I am literary living so many miles away from home right now.
However, I am more and more bored by the phrases I myself used so much while talking about wanting to travel: get to know myself better, achieve independence, creativity and so on…
And I am feeling almost a bit disgusted because travelling is so often treated as a way to buy self-development. A thing that you can write in your CV to say: Hey look. I am independent and good with cultures and such things.
I think travelling has gotten so popular because we have so many choices and the pressure to choose right -but please as fast as possible. The truth is that many people who just finished Highschool have no idea what they want in life and if they are going to be happy with the choices they make. But society and especially social media suggest that you need to find your passion and yourself: That you actually should have accomplished this already.
So, it seems tempting to speed up this process by travelling and run away from your bad habits to evolve at a different place. But that is not how it works.
What self-development needs more than anything else is time. It is true that it helps to leave your comfort zone but first you need to be in a place where you can truly say yes to this experience and really process it.
Otherwise, it can happen that the negative experiences that are surely going to happen change you but not in a good way. It is for example possible that as a person from a rather rich country you experience situational racism when you travel in a poor country such as people charging you higher than locals. If you cannot put this experience into perspective, you may start hating the locals or the whole culture of this country.
So, before you start your ERASMUS, your volunteering or work and travel-year think about why you are doing this and if you are really ready for this.
Travelling can be very enriching
if it happens at the right time in your life.
The reason for this dream was mainly as I heard over and over again that they wanted to find themselves.
I myself am no exception. I mean I am literary living so many miles away from home right now.
However, I am more and more bored by the phrases I myself used so much while talking about wanting to travel: get to know myself better, achieve independence, creativity and so on…
And I am feeling almost a bit disgusted because travelling is so often treated as a way to buy self-development. A thing that you can write in your CV to say: Hey look. I am independent and good with cultures and such things.
I think travelling has gotten so popular because we have so many choices and the pressure to choose right -but please as fast as possible. The truth is that many people who just finished Highschool have no idea what they want in life and if they are going to be happy with the choices they make. But society and especially social media suggest that you need to find your passion and yourself: That you actually should have accomplished this already.
So, it seems tempting to speed up this process by travelling and run away from your bad habits to evolve at a different place. But that is not how it works.
What self-development needs more than anything else is time. It is true that it helps to leave your comfort zone but first you need to be in a place where you can truly say yes to this experience and really process it.
Otherwise, it can happen that the negative experiences that are surely going to happen change you but not in a good way. It is for example possible that as a person from a rather rich country you experience situational racism when you travel in a poor country such as people charging you higher than locals. If you cannot put this experience into perspective, you may start hating the locals or the whole culture of this country.
So, before you start your ERASMUS, your volunteering or work and travel-year think about why you are doing this and if you are really ready for this.
Travelling can be very enriching
if it happens at the right time in your life.
JULIA FÉAUX DE LACROIX
Julia is a German volunteer in Praxis organisation involved in the World Tourism Day campaign.
