A Solo Travellers Mind

Your 20s, although maybe the best years of your life, are also maybe the most confusing.

You leave home, and the home you once remembered isn’t the same anymore. A year down the line, life has continued, your friends have families or have moved in with their partners, settling down to the roots of life, and it makes you question if you’re doing it “right”. Are you meant to spend these years building your future or seeing the world and exposing every part of yourself at the same time? It’s a strange feeling.

Travelling means casual work becomes part of you. With casual working, there are difficulties. The first is that when in charge of your own hours, it’s easy to over book yourself and overwork yourself, as well as overbooking yourself in case shifts are cancelled towards the end of the week. However, if shifts aren’t cancelled, you end up being worked into the ground. This is something that has occurred for me on more than one occasion. Balance is something I’m yet to find.

Mentally, I’ve not been at my most optimum for a variety of different reasons. Peace of mind is something I really mastered while travelling and having the drive to get out and see the world. But I think when stationary, the motivation to do this is something I battle. I wonder if there’s something more to this? With everyone around me rooting down, why do the roots not grow for me?
A patient at work told me recently not to stress about where I’m going to live. It takes many attempts to find a place to call home away from home. Another told me of their own 2 year battle on where to call home. It makes me feel more normal, that finding your roots doesn’t come easily to some.

The implementation of wellness is key. Skills and hobbies I started on my travels that I’ve found make a substantial difference in my headspace are things I must continue to hold close. It can be hard to balance with work and life, but to retreat back to past behaviours isn’t growth.
“A situation will continue to repeat itself until the lesson is learnt,”
I’ve spent so much of the last year reflecting, both in real time and of the past. I’ve never always been good at articulating my words physically, but while writing, I’m able to understand more. Writing ensures lessons are learnt.