195 countries, 4200 religions, 6500 languages, 7.6 billion people.
Don’t you ever think that there is a life much beyond our petty problems, our everyday struggles, our small desires, and simple heartbreaks? Of course, there is one.
A whole new world much beyond what we can ever imagine.
Every place in this world has a different journey, a different story, a different set of people, a different culture, different problems, different struggles, different achievements, different things to be proud of.
So, interestingly, the world happens to have been constructed in such a manner that enables us to explore new ideas, new emotions, gain new perspectives, gather new insights. So, travel!
Imagine what life would have been if you had been in a cage; if you had always stayed in the same place, lived with the same people, experienced the same emotions, and never seen failure. Maybe it would have been a very safe, homely, secure, familiar, and also a very comfortable place.
But trust me, you would never have been able to gain a perspective of different surroundings from your own. More so, wouldn’t it have been boring, too?
I agree it is difficult to travel the entire world, but definitely not impossible to travel at least a significant part of it especially if we live for almost 65 to 70 years, on an average.
In a remote part of this world is a monk who is free of all desire, there is also an investment banker who is giving their day and night to earn loads of money, and then, there is also a tribe that dedicates its entire life protecting the forests in its area.
In this world, each one of us has lived a different life, and has had a different journey. What if we could learn at least one thing from everyone we meet, every new friend we make, every new person we get to interact with. So, travel!
Appreciate the majestic pyramids of Egypt, witness the changing of borders at the Wagah in Amritsar, get fascinated looking at the water in the landscape at Niagara, watch the sunset at the Pangong Tso in Ladakh, experience the pace of Mumbai, and feel the stillness of the ocean. And you will surely gain a new life lesson from each of those pursuits. So, travel!
Not just places, there is so much to still read about, so much to ponder on, so much to think through, so much to see and witness, so much to experience. So, travel!
It will give your life not just a deeper meaning; but it will also make you value every new day that you wake up to.
Also travel within and travel every day. Yes, every single day.
Speak to that Ola driver, initiate a conversation with that peon in your college, listen to the ambitions of Chhotu at the dhaba, laugh at the stories of that shopkeeper, learn through the tales of that old man at the church.
Travel by seeing through yourself. Seeing through people whom you are with the whole day, but haven’t ever really gotten to know them. Seeing through people you meet every day.
At least meet one new person every day. That’s the least we can do. And trust me, you will have travelled enough. You will have learned at least something new about life that very day, that very moment.
So, travel, because life is all about something new every day.