At this very moment I am sitting in my airplane seat as I type this next blog. I am on my flight to California, the first destination state where I will begin a road trip through 3 different states, completely by myself.
I want to first start out by saying that this entire road trip idea began with my idea of wanting to explore more of the West of the United States. Knowing that I will be moving in the next year and a half, I wanted to get a feel for places I would potentially like to move to before finishing my undergraduate studies. But as time went on I knew that this road trip actually had more reasons to it than only seeing pretty places to live in the future. So to begin to understand a little more about the WHY part of this trip on my own I’ve decided to break it down into 2 reasons. So here goes Reason #1: You know it's funny to see how people react differently when you tell them your doing a road trip completely by yourself. I actually find it funny when after describing all the beautiful places and parks your going to visit, and the person asks casually "Oh and who are you going with"? To which I then respond with a smile, "Oh, I'm going by myself". Many of them immediately react with "What, why?". Others say "Wow, that's amazing I would never have the courage to do that!". But only a few certain people I've told this trip about react in an interesting way. They tell me "I'm glad your doing that, I remember when I took a trip like that...". Now it's this last reaction that I love so much. Why? Because immediately after the person tells me about a similar trip or experience they've had I can see them roll their eyes down in remembrance and I sense him/her thinking about what it felt like to be on that trip, and probably the good memories they still have from it. Reason #1 would be exactly how that last person reacted to me telling them. I want to feel and remember those good memories when I'm older too. Now let's get a little more personal and go onto Reason #2 for this road trip. Being alone isn't easy. That’s why the hardest thing I’ve dealt within the past year is feeling lonely. And I don’t think we talk about this subject as much as we should. Of course, God never intended for us to be alone, humans were made to be with other humans. I would definitely always rather be with friends and the people I love, especially while traveling to beautiful places. But what happens when the people you love aren’t there anymore? Or none of them could make time in their schedules to go on that same trip together? What happens when someone you love chooses to leave? I think one of the hardest parts about this are the experiences you can have while no one is with you. Seeing something beautiful and not being able to share it makes you feel incomplete without someone there beside you. We do this with Social Media, buying into a need to demonstrate and take pictures of every moment for everyone else instead of enjoying it just for ourselves. We also tend to live in limbo when things aren’t “just right”. Always waiting for the future, or things to come together instead of enjoying the present. We lose so much time and many opportunities doing this. We need to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and to just do it (as the wise words of Shia Labeof). So that’s where I am at the moment. Which brings the purpose of this trip. I’m trying to find the comfortable place with myself where I can be happy and content doing things by myself by exploring the physical places and nature but also searching for my own happiness within. PS: I'll be seeing old friends and relatives along the way! But for the most part I'll be solo :) |
Melissa RodriguesThese blog posts are a about my lifestyle and bit more personal. Enjoy! ArchivesCategories |