it has been a little over a month since coming home from japan.
here are some of the things i have noticed within my life, and my newfound perspective of the world:
1. you can live only in today.
when you are faced with so much adversity or hardship on your own, your perception of time drastically changes. you learn to focus on what you have going on right in front of you, because that's all that really matters.
and really. it's all that should matter.
because the time you have is happening right now.
life has become so much more simple when i see today, and nothing else. i go about my days to contribute to whatever might happen tomorrow, and i am fine with just that.
2. your home will forever, be stuck in time.
being around my friends and family all the time again, you see how much time stands still in the place you've grown up. it's always the same conversations about the same problems, people, and things seen in everyday life. after seeing and experiencing so much outside of your own world, you break out of the bubble of oblivion, you just see everything differently.
what was once considered normal just seems, weird and devaluing to my life now. it kind of makes me ponder if i've been hanging around the right kinds of people.
3. the world is not as scary as you think.
it really isn't.
the news and the media put you into a box of fear, and like to keep it that way. so much so that i could count the number of american solo travelers on both of my hands.
solo traveling and navigating the world by yourself is THE best thing you could ever do for yourself. and i really do think it needs to be experienced at least once by everyone. if i had not taken the leap of faith to venture out by myself, i would not be who i am today without it.
4. menial and petty things no longer bother me anymore.
small things that used to bother me, really don't anymore.
for instance,
- disagreements among family and friends that used to urk the depths of my soul.
- simple around the house things.
- doing adulting things in general.
now, i just ask myself, "what would my best self do right now?" it makes me feel more motivated and less guilty this way on how i go about doing things.
5. you're more well rounded than 90% of the people you know, regardless of how long your time away has been.
going abroad changes you for the better. you see life differently. you interpret all sorts of situations differently. and most importantly, you yourself are different.
the experience you have is quite literally, the outside world. nothing is more scarier, daunting, and fear inducing than that. especially when you are alone.
no one else has this experience, save for you. and this is a beautiful thing.
6. going outside your comfort zone is required to thrive in life.
the initial feelings of living in another country are overwhelming. you feel everything, and you experience every sort of emotion that you can think of. this is what i think is the greatest defintion of getting out of your comfort zone.
after i experienced this period, it feels alot less scary doing new and unfamiliar things. you realize how strongand confident you actually are for putting yourself in situations that push passed your boundaries, and into places where you are forced to grow, learn, and adapt.
so overall, time abroad is a very valuable thing to have. you learn immensely, you grow so much so that what you know is almost foreign to you, and a new version of yourself comes out. sometimes, one you didn't even know you had.