How To Fill Your Soul With Travel
Let’s face it. Many people feel empty inside. And chances are that you are one of them because it is estimated that 64% of the population in developed countries have lost their sense of purpose at some point in their lives.
Do you feel like something is missing in your life? Do you wake up every morning with a profound lack of energy? Do you feel like trapped in a life that doesn’t fulfil you? Don’t you remember when was the last time you felt excited about something? Well, you’re not alone. I’ve been there too…
Most people who feel empty have some false deep beliefs regarding why they feel that way. But before to talk about how to discover the real cause of inner emptiness and what you can do about it, let me tell you something about me.
My personal story
When I was 25 years old, people used to tell me that my life was so perfect.
Yes, I had it all, but just to other people’s eyes…
I graduated from university with good grades, I had a wonderful family who always supported me, I found a job not far from home, I bought my own car, I paid for my master, and later on, I quitted my job to fully focus on building my own IT company. I had good money in my bank account, or at least more than what usually guys with similar age have, I was healthy, my family too…
But instead of being happy, I was slowly but surely dying inside.
I felt empty and especially frustrated by knowing that people looked up at me like a role model when actually I was feeling like a complete failure and even worse than that, I wasn’t doing anything about it. As time was passing by, I was getting old and unable to find myself feeling fulfilled.
I felt what it’s commonly known as depressed.
After analyzing my situation for quite some time I came to the conclusion that I had to set new life goals to pursue, in other words, new motivations to keep me alive and something to fight for. I talked to some friends and they advised me to follow the traditional path that society drilled in our heads. That would be getting married, buying a house, starting a family, and so on…
Then, I started doing research about property prices in my city and mortgage conditions. And you know what? I couldn’t take it. I hated that idea. I didn’t see myself working long hours to end up giving my hard-earned income to a bank, getting stuck in one place and having the same routine all over again.
I was lost but I started working on myself, I knew that I had to fix something inside me to bring my passion for life back. And eventually, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I understood what was wrong with myself and I was committed to change that situation for the better.
Since I had started my own business, I neglected some aspects of my life that were fundamental. I stopped going out with friends because I would prefer to work on my projects. I didn’t date girls because I was afraid of rejection. I stayed at my parent’s house instead of moving out by myself because I was comfortable. I didn’t travel because I wasn’t confident with my English. Besides all that, I had fears about traveling with severe food allergies…
After discovering the real cause of my inner emptiness, I took action.
I left everything in Barcelona and I moved to United Kingdom to study English for a whole year. That experience changed my world. I met people from all around the globe, I improved my communication skills, I overcame most of my fears, I regained my confidence and I made long-lasting friends.
The year after, I purchased one-way flight ticket to Singapore and I solo traveled all around Asia with just a backpack and my laptop. I did the same to South America. And 25 countries later, I finally moved to Thailand, where I’ve been living for the last 3 years and been feeling like my second home.
Travel has taught me a lot. It has opened my eyes to ordinary things that are deeply undervalued, but have enormous significance. I have a deeper sense of respect for others. I have a much better perspective of life. I embrace change. I complain less and I’m more grateful. I learned to take new challenges. I am more flexible and tend to face problems head on. I learned that travel is the only thing I can buy that makes me richer. I found out that sharing moments with others could be priceless. And as a minimalist, I’d rather collect moments than things. Material things can’t bring me the joy of a new adventure.
Learning to love yourself
There is only one cause of inner emptiness: a lack of love. But here is the thing. Don’t expect others to love you if you don’t love yourself in the first place. Inner emptiness is caused by self-abandonment, by not loving yourself.
You feel empty and lost in life when you abandon yourself by ignoring or not listening to your feelings, when you make others responsible for your feelings and for being too emotional dependent from other people’s love or approval.
Therefore, it’s not a lack of someone else’s love that causes your emptiness.
When I was sad and felt demotivated, I wasn’t really taking good care of myself. I focused too much on my work and left my self-growth, relationships and social life behind. After some time, that was killing me. I bottomed out.
You may experience the same situation as me but caused by other circumstances. Maybe you don’t have a partner and feel lonely or bored. Maybe you don’t have enough money. Maybe you’re too worried about the future. Maybe your work is unsatisfying or you hate your boss. Maybe you think you’re not successful or beautiful enough…
Whatever your reason is, there is a turn around. And it all starts by learning to love yourself more. Stop surviving and start doing what you love. I’m sure there are many thing you really enjoy doing. That can be something as simple as going to the cinema, joining a new group activity, taking up a new hobby or sport, petting an animal, calling your friends or mom to tell them how much you love them, having dinner at your favorite restaurant…
It’s important to be self-compassionate and don’t rush. Take your time.
But if you can, I urge you to travel.
As far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live, play, cook and explore. Learn from them, wherever you go.
Travel will make you an incredibly more well-rounded human being by developing skills you didn’t know you had, by creating more meaningful relationships, by helping you learn who you are, by letting you surprise by what nature around the world has to offer and, ultimately, by filling your soul with happiness from sharing conversations with people from other cultures.
Like it happened to me.
I hope it inspired you…
