This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase. Read Disclosure.
If you evaluated a person’s life from the perspective of how much they tried to escape their problems, I would be considered a marathon runner.
It is my natural way of being. If I don’t like it, then I leave. I’ve been on the run for 15 years.
My parents didn’t understand it at first. “What’s so wrong with us and your home? Do you hate us that much?”
“Nothing and no!”
I just don’t see why staying in a place and time that makes you unhappy is a smart move. And, I’ve had a few demons I’ve wanted to run from too. Gotta shake that monkey off my back.
I think we are all messed up. It’s the nature of being human. There’s just varying degrees, but who is to say my messed upness is less than or worse than yours? The truth is we are all trying to escape from it. It’s just a matter of how involved we are with it consciously.
Craig and I recently had this discussion over dinner. I truly believe you can run away from your problems.
BUT, and there is a huge BUT here.
You can’t run with the view of escaping yourself. You can run to eliminate the outer conditions that may in some way inhibit or restrict you, but you can never run from yourself.
“But, you’ve run before and you made it work,” Craig said to me.
“Yes, and anyone who has problems should travel and run from them, but they have to do it with the intention of creating a better self once they escape those things that seem to be holding them back.”
You can run. You can run forever to escape those external factors, but you can never escape yourself. Travel will never help you create a better life unless you choose to reinvent yourself along the way.
Often we have to leave the place we are at. There are people and places and memories that hold us into being this person we know we really aren’t.
Part of the challenge of living back in my home town is that most people only know me as the person I was 10 years ago. I am not that person anymore, nor have been for years. I ran from her and changed her. It was the best decision she ever made.
Get away from what people expect you to be and become who you truly are. When you become who you truly are you overcome any issues and you find your peace and happiness.
And because all good country music songs tell great stories about moving on, here’s one from The Dixie Chicks:
She needs wide open spaces. Room to make a mistake. She needs new faces. She knows the high stakes.
Remove the shackles, use travel as a way to reinvent yourself. Find out what didn’t work and make it work to the beat of your drum. Travel has this magical ability to bring your sacredness into the light.
Share your thoughts or ask a question in the comments below…
