I recently spoke with one of my dearest friends in Australia who had just seen her eldest child off at the airport. Her daughter was headed to Europe with another 18-year old friend to travel, explore and get that sweet taste of the unfamiliar. She shared with me how emotional her departure was with many tears and clutching hugs. The daughter intends to be away for about six months, which to a Mum likely seems an eternity.
What struck me about the story was how emotional change can be. The home status quo has been rocked with the natural concern about safe travel and one less person around. I reflected to when I first left my family two days before my 17th birthday. I was headed to Australia as an exchange student for 11 months and hugged my family good-bye and hopped onto a plane bound for Sydney with 100+ other American exchange students.
The emotion of being separated from what I knew to be secure, my family in this case, didn’t hit me until two days later…on my 17th birthday. My Mom had packed a card and present with the firm instructions to “not open it until my actual birthday”. Being an obedient daughter, I opened the card on my birthday and completely fell apart. I was meeting my exchange family shortly after opening the card and was a complete emotional wreck when I met them. Perhaps they were having second thoughts about taking a young, American basket case into their home for the next few months.
Regardless, I moved onto the next phase of the adventure without looking back to those moments that felt like such intense loss and fear. I’m certain my friend and her daughter will have a similar experience once the adventure starts to write itself into a story.
I know how exciting it can be traveling to new places as I was struck by the wanderlust bug at a very early age. The more I’ve traveled the greater my curiosity is about third world countries and getting off the beaten track. Travel as a teacher holds many lessons…tolerance, patience and adaptability. It opens our eyes to new things and exposes our taste buds to foreign sensations (some delightful and others not). The further we step away from our own cultural familiarity, the more we’re nudged out of our zone of comfort. We witness things that can raise our eye brows and challenge us to not hold our noses in disgust. It creates moments of such great awe, that our hearts can do nothing but expand. It brings to life history and adds texture to our everyday existence.
In some ways, travel to me is likened to the experiences we can have on our yoga mats. Being in our practice we are faced with many uncomfortable moments, such as chanting or turning upside down for the first time. We are asked to find patience and allow our inner guide to lead us into the asked pose rather than imposing the pose upon ourselves. When we get uncomfortable and step fully into our practice we can’t help but grow.
With the courage to try something new, whether it be on or off your mat, our hearts break wide open and drink in the nectar of all the Universe has to offer.
It’s quite a trip!
