“Not all who wander are lost” is a quote which someone who sits close to my heart gave me on a bracelet before I left England to start exploring Scandinavia in the van. Whilst travelling around I’ve thought about this a lot. I am Constantly lost location, date and time wise I never have any idea of where I am or what day it is. These are just constraints of the constructs which were created by humans. Time isn’t even real… Currently we live in a society that has told us that travelling is ‘strange’ and ‘for risk takers’ from a young age we are drilled with the stereotypes that we need to get a full time job, go to university, have a house, get married and have a family. Yes that is all normal human instincts but it does not have to be completed within one area of the world at all.
I’ve learnt from my last 2 months of travelling that I’m definitely not lost mentally. Travelling has made me realise what life is about. Adventuring. Human instincts are to see the world, find food, water, a ‘mate’ and shelter. At the moment we are just consumed by the digital age and the technologies created. The society around us have been created to tell us we are unhappy with our life because then we are constantly buying things to try and ‘fill’ what we are missing with materialistic items. I appreciate that for some it brings them happiness but with the steady decline in mental health and increase in depression and anxiety it automatically leads to questions and debates.
A leading study found that by getting lost for just an hour a day in a new place showed reductions in depression and anxiety within the individuals who took part. I guess you’re wondering why I know this well whilst completing my degree in teaching my dissertation subject involved Emotional Intelligence as within schools mental health is a serious issue right now. My own research lead me to realise that my passion wasn’t within teaching. I’m not going to spend my life trying to change a failing system but I’m going to live my life how I want too. As J Cole states perfectly for me in his song Apparently “this is my canvas, I’m gunna paint how I wanna”. I left with no idea what my passion was or how I wanted to paint my ‘canvas’ but now I see that travelling and adventuring is definitely that. I travel with no plan and no expectations and just randomly stumble across some incredible places.
Take this in for an example as I write this I’m sat facing the Svartisen glacier across the Holandsfjord in Norway. This morning I didn’t even know it was on the road we were travelling on we were just heading towards the ferry and managed to stumble across an incredible view and a piece of nature which many won’t get to experience first hand in their life. I’m waiting for the weather to clear so I can kayak over and touch it. That’s all I want to do! That’s what is so great about having no constraint of time I could wait here for as long as needed!
The night before I sat at another fjord about 20 minutes down the road and watched pods of pilot whales hunt for fish for a good 2 hours. I got to know their hunting pattern they literally went around in circles. They would only appear for about 3/4 seconds to clear the air out of their whole things (insert right name) before descending back to their prey. What I saw was minimal but it didn’t take away from the beautiful creatures they are. Again I had no idea that they would be there I only found out because I had stopped at the side of the road to take a photo of the beautiful fjord. Whilst finding the perfect spot I stumbled across wild strawberries growing on the other side of the hard shoulder. Living on the budget we are and with how expensive Norway is I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to have strawberries so I spent a good two hours on the side of a cliff drop getting as many as I could!
It was In this time that I spotted the whales hunting and noticed they were all heading into the cove about 100 metres away. Soon after an otter appeared eating a crab on a rock. I would have got a photo but in my excitement I accidentally spoke out loud to myself… Saying “there’s a mother fucking otter there”. It’s not something I’ve ever experienced in England! We parked up next to the cove for the night and slept next to the pilot whales hunting and waterfalls. At that point I though back to how stressed I was. Now I live off about 10 pound a day through my savings which is probably less than most individuals rent for the week. I followed my dreams taking a risk by biggest problem right now… How can I make my passion my job?
A wise individual once said “…do what your passionate about become an expert, work hard and your passion will become your income. “. This won’t come easy but then what does in life, your passion takes time and effort you do not become a millionaire over night.
I love this post! Truly inspiring can’t wait to go travelling again now. I really feel what your saying!