Wow, another Christmas has come and gone. Christmas for me has always been a time of reflection as it seems to allow one to toy with the notion that a new year is just around the corner. What all have I accomplished in one year? What do I want to do in the future? What do I regret?
A year ago today, moving to NZ was just a pipe dream that I hoped would happen. I had began to familiarize myself with the culture (in various ways) and my desire to continue to travel was transforming into a more realistic mindset for my life. Although I have been blessed with the opportunity to go to various places within the last few years, I in no shape or form consider myself to be a worldly traveller.
There are so many places that I still want to go, and so many experiences that I have yet to have. Even given that I had gone to all of these places, I still firmly believe that upon returning , I would still fall subject to various emotional changes based on the impact of these locations.
For me, travelling is a funny sort of reflection, as I find that while searching to learn more about a particular place, I in fact learn the most about who I am as a person. This introspection to the self is such a rewarding and intricate emotion that is not, and cannot for that matter, be duplicated.
Upon each return from the UK I find myself feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions, none more superior to the other. I find that often I am homesick, not for my place of current residence, but for my family that lives a world away from me for 365 days of the year. It is for those few weeks visiting that I am able to feel myself surrounded by their presence, something that I continually long for when I arrive back "home" in Canada.
What then, is home ? If home is where your family is, than I am, more often than not, away from home. I spend a great deal of my time in my self-defined "step-home" where I live with my close friends (who now, to me, are family). It is at this home that I can converse with others who feel emotions similar to myself (the stresses of school, life, and...well...mostly school). However, I would say that this "step-home", the home made up of my family of friends, is neither inferior nor superior to that of my "biological home". They each play different roles in guiding and supporting me throughout my journey of life.
Both my friends and my family influence me in the decisions that I make and the route I take to make these decisions become a reality. Without these two forces, my decision to travel and learn from various perspectives would not have taken place.
I look forward to the emotional journey that I will embark on when I leave this home and begin to create a new one. I look forward to learning. I look forward to meeting new people. But most of all, I look forward to the personal changes that this journey will inflict on me.
"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind" ~Seneca
A year ago today, moving to NZ was just a pipe dream that I hoped would happen. I had began to familiarize myself with the culture (in various ways) and my desire to continue to travel was transforming into a more realistic mindset for my life. Although I have been blessed with the opportunity to go to various places within the last few years, I in no shape or form consider myself to be a worldly traveller.
There are so many places that I still want to go, and so many experiences that I have yet to have. Even given that I had gone to all of these places, I still firmly believe that upon returning , I would still fall subject to various emotional changes based on the impact of these locations.
For me, travelling is a funny sort of reflection, as I find that while searching to learn more about a particular place, I in fact learn the most about who I am as a person. This introspection to the self is such a rewarding and intricate emotion that is not, and cannot for that matter, be duplicated.
Upon each return from the UK I find myself feeling an overwhelming amount of emotions, none more superior to the other. I find that often I am homesick, not for my place of current residence, but for my family that lives a world away from me for 365 days of the year. It is for those few weeks visiting that I am able to feel myself surrounded by their presence, something that I continually long for when I arrive back "home" in Canada.
What then, is home ? If home is where your family is, than I am, more often than not, away from home. I spend a great deal of my time in my self-defined "step-home" where I live with my close friends (who now, to me, are family). It is at this home that I can converse with others who feel emotions similar to myself (the stresses of school, life, and...well...mostly school). However, I would say that this "step-home", the home made up of my family of friends, is neither inferior nor superior to that of my "biological home". They each play different roles in guiding and supporting me throughout my journey of life.
Both my friends and my family influence me in the decisions that I make and the route I take to make these decisions become a reality. Without these two forces, my decision to travel and learn from various perspectives would not have taken place.
I look forward to the emotional journey that I will embark on when I leave this home and begin to create a new one. I look forward to learning. I look forward to meeting new people. But most of all, I look forward to the personal changes that this journey will inflict on me.
"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind" ~Seneca
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