“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” — Aristotle
When I was a little kid, all I wanted to do was to travel and explore the big big world. When I met Fernando and Jonnie, their stories reminded me of my dream as a kid and they encouraged me to go explore the big world out there, to step out of my comfort zone, to learn about different cultures, and obviously to try different kinds of food.
Since 2011, I have had opportunities to experience different cultures. And I love it. I respect and appreciate diversity and differences. I love to learn about this amazing world and its people. It is true that the more I travel, the more I learn about the world. But at the same time, I also have developed a new understanding of the real ultimate purpose of exploring the world.
TO GET TO KNOW ONESELF BETTER.
Starting a new life in a new place is challenging but it is a great opportunity to learn about yourself, to get to know yourself better. By putting yourself new and random situations in which you would be able to see yourself’s responses. If you do a good job, congratulation — you just learn a new skill. If you do not a good job, don’t worry — this is an amazing opportunity for you to learn.
When you step out of your comfort zone, when you move to a new city, a new country. You must leave behind you your family, your friends, your connections… almost everything that you have been building up for years. Obviously, you can still keep in touch if you want to, but you know for sure that it is a real challenge to stay in touch with people who live thousands of miles away. Building a social circle can be the toughest challenge of all. But the process of conquering this challenge can help you get to know yourself so much better. You have to push yourself, you have to know your limits, you have to know your boundaries.
When you are all by yourself, you actually have more time for yourself. If you know how to manage and use this “for your self” time wisely, you will be able to learn so much about yourself via self-reflection. If you have no idea what is self-reflection, then it is a perfect time for you to learn and practice this useful skill.
When you are far away from home, you will know how much you love your family. Oh man “Only hate the road when you’re missing home”. In my case, moving far away from home actually helps to strengthen family bonds. I talk to my parents and my siblings more often. I think of them more often. I learn how to express my love for them which I had never done before.
When you move abroad, you will learn about your adaptive behavior. How independent you are, what skills you have to learn or improve to be able to function well vocationally, socially and educationally.
It is not always about learning the external world, it is crucially important to learn about your own little world — yourself. Traveling or moving to a new place is not only about learning about different cultures, different values… it is also about learning about yourself.
If you know yourself, you can change yourself. And if you can change yourself, then you can think about changing the world.
