Carnet de voyage

From within to the world

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7 étapes
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Par Sasch
where all our journeys begin
Juillet 1984
111 semaines
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“I want to travel the world”

That’s what I kept telling my friends and family in the last years. As we do it with many things, we like to talk about them but when it comes to bring them to reality we have our difficulties. I mean the idea of a world travel is not new; you can see and read a lot about it on the internet and in travel magazines. So I wanted to figure out WHY I have this dream, desire, wish or whatever you want to call it inside me. That's why the first journey I’m taking on this so called world travel is a journey within myself. A journey of self reflection.

What I write here is my personal subjective opinion and it is a view I’ve developed based on personal experiences. Because the topic is a very personal one I only want to "scratch the surface".

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We come into this world with a natural excitement to explore, discover and grow. As babies and children we are curious about everything and anything. There’s nothing more exciting than getting to know the world around us with all our senses. Life is full of new things to discover. We get rushes of excitement in our brain several times a day. With this curiosity and pared with creativity we learn to explore our environment.

The older many of us become, the more they lose or “unlearn” their curiosity. Daily life and routines take over. We spend similar days from Monday to Friday. We're happy about the weekends. Then we spend similar days from Monday to Friday again and so on. Institutions and society tend to tell us what to learn, what to deal with and in the end we are tested about it and ranked.

A time of being outside a system where you’ve always belonged to might be a good chance to renew the old spirit of excitement to explore. To think outside the box. But also to be confronted with new opinions and challenges.

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In addition I’m excited to have the time to think about how I want to spend my time. No company will give me a daily schedule and tell me on which tasks or projects I have to spend my day from 8 to 5. So I’ll be the one deciding and steering the wheel. I think you can only decide and be sure about the direction you want to steel the wheel to after you’ve carefully listened to your inner voice. "What are the things you like to do?", "how do you want to create your mornings, afternoons, evenings and nights?", "which goals do you have?", "what's meaningful in your life?", "how and in which fields do you want educate yourself?" etc.

The general question is “How do I want to invest my daily energy in the best way for myself, the people in my life and the environment around me”?

This journey is not necessarily about “finding myself”, because nothing is permanent. Being is always becoming :) And as change is the only constant I want to learn more about sailing in the constant winds of change.

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Furthermore making experiences shapes our view on the world and broadens our horizon. Many people call it "thinking outside the box" to create understanding and awareness for the views of others. I think quiet often we tend to judge to fast without trying to understand why people are how they are and why people believe in what they believe. Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s good not to forget about your roots and what shaped us. But if we always stay in our circle and never question why things are how they are it makes it difficult for us to develop. Our view on this world will be always limited to the circle we are in and we will never understand why other people think differently. The more people we meet, the more experiences we share, the more we can learn from one another and the more we will see diversity as a chance and enrichment free from prejudices and judgement.

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Another motivation is to figure out what material things I really need in my life. When I left my apartment in Cologne there was so much stuff in it I’ve been collecting in the last years. I’d say I didn’t need or use half of it. So it was a good chance to sort things out and to minimize my material things to what I really need. The essential things were brought in my room at my parents house and I’ve decided not to have an apartment anymore. What I’ll bring with me is a backpack and a daypack for day trips during the travels. So the philosophy of the next months will be less material things but therefore more time with people and in adventures.

But minimizing also meant some shopping before I’ve left. It was necessary to buy practical things with a small packing size. Finally my backpack has 12 kg and my daypack which carries my laptop has round about 5 kg.

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I really like being outdoors and spending time in landscapes where you feel small and where you get the feeling of freedom. Landscapes with an endless horizon not being influenced by man made actions. I’m excited about all the places I will see that our planet has to offer. I’d love to capture the beauty of nature with my camera but more than that in moments I will remember.

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“Where is home?” A questions I want figure out on the journey I’m on. It can be the place where you were born, the place where you grew up, went to university etc. or a person you love. Somewhere your heart feels in its place, feels balanced and in peace.

I’d say that home is strongly related to happiness. I think happiness comes into your life when you find belonging and purpose. Belonging to people (friends, parter, family) and places. Purpose is the question of what you’re doing with your life (projects, work, sports ..) I hope my journey will open my eyes even more for the big topics of belonging and purpose. Furthermore there is the aspect of transcendence or spirituality which means to be connected with something bigger than yourself (God, a higher power, the universe, art etc). It also contains the questions “why are we here?”, “what happened before and will happen after life”, “do things happen for a reason?” etc. Questions I'd like to have more time for.

The moments in life that touch our hearts are the ones which shape us the most. On this journey home I’d like to walk with an open heart and mind and with love for what I’m doing and towards the people I’m going to meet. To embrace what’s coming on the way. I’d like to end this blog entry with a quote from John Lennon.

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”

Sunset above the clouds at Mauna Kea, Hawaii