HOW TRAVEL CHANGED MY LIFE

Everyone was expecting me to become a teacher, a doctor, a banker, a SOMEONE.

And there I was, wrapped up in my own little world against other people’s worlds, sitting in a corner, at war with my own soul, wrestling realities, stuck deeply between the never ending forethoughts versus afterthoughts, and sincerely wanting to be just someone. At some point, though, I was unconsciously sharing their own expectations, too. It’s a shame, I told myself, as I quietly decided to be aggressive in taking and making paths; explored and the unexplored.

This entry is a compilation of realizations of a wannabe, a dreamer, a realist, an eyewitness and a storyteller.

Join me as I travel places and unravel the parody of the game they call LIFE.

I BECOME A WANNABE |

TWIN LAGOON | Coron, Palawan

An encounter with a person, quick or unhurried, can be a total life changing, as familiarity is measured by depth rather than length.  There will always be someone, grand or ordinary, I cross paths with, that I look up to and regard. Someone who animates my senses and makes me hopeful that life is after all, a basket of endless possibilities. These types of people are inspiring, and often make me want to live a life similar on how they live their own, but in my own terms.

While there are some people, too, who tear me, rip me – heart, body and soul. They either break or make me. These are the rarest kind of people that I need, as they challenge me to become a better version of myself, more so, the best possible version of myself.
I become a wannabe.

 

I BECOME A DREAMER |

MT. TAPYAS | Coron, Palawan

Too often, I fail to appreciate the glorious rewards in small things. In a world where I am suspended in making a living, I, sometimes, missed the silver because am too busy chasing the gold. What are the chances of missing a little, a little too much or missed without even missing? How many times did I miss the gracious elopement of the sun after six?  Or when was the last time I bask in the dusk, waiting for its glorious return? Had I temporarily elude from the chaotic world, obviously I would have had better chances of a dreamy retreat. Traveling and being quieted from my frenzied zone make me superhuman: nostalgic, poetic, and out of my deepest slumber or while I am awake – I become a dreamer.

 

I BECOME VERSATILE|

MT. BATOLUSONG TRAIL | Tanay, Rizal

The world is harsh.

Life is unfair.

People are biased.

But I don’t have to be like them.

I am naturally kind and humane in my own true form.

I am strong.

I am caring.

I deserve love as I have so much love to give.

In a world full of abrasives – I become versatile.

I BECOME AN EYEWITNESS|

MALICGONG VIEW POINT | Bontoc, Mountain Province

Much to my understanding, everything is transitory: life, people, feelings, thoughts and places. I can only live in the moment and make the most out of it. Being able to see a fraction of such transitory in their different phases is truly worthwhile. It is priceless to have the privilege watching the world and the people in it evolve. Traveling gives me options to push the right buttons, somewhere between the pauses and play or behind forwards and rewinds, in no time, I become an eyewitness.

I BECOME A STORYTELLER|

MT. BATOLUSONG | Tanay, Rizal

As I have said long ago, people travel a hundred to thousand miles to meet cultures, places and faces. But with the permission of the universe, they meet themselves. I seek experiences for that one amazing story I wish to write, for that one amazing moment I wish to seize. At the end of the day, when the sun is down, when the waves finally meet the shore and boats are moored in a bay, I am anchored in reality - that I am just a tiny particle - constantly growing, learning and thriving.

In each travel, it is either I or the experience becomes the storyteller.

Having these things in mind, "Did travel really change me or my life?", I asked.
It did not.
It just led me to self-discovery, to unfounded thoughts, to an awakening of what really matters, and to what I have always been my entire life.

This is me.
Just someone.
Awesome in my genuine form.
And, this is how I frame the world with my opticals into indescribable patterns, numbers, colors and figures - my kaleidoscope.

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