Often times, you hear people say that they are going travelling to find themselves. When I left home, I would say this, but not really fully grasping what it meant. This morning, as I sat on the beach and watched the sunrise with a new friend and fellow solo traveller, our discussion turned to why we were here. Why we were travelling alone. He said "When you're in the same place,who you are is constantly influenced by the people around you. Everyone is guilty of it. Acting differently around different people. But when you're travelling, you only have you. You have to be who you are."
I've been reflecting on this all day. Solo travel strips you down to your rawest, most vulnerable core. Everyone you meet is seeing you for the first time. They don't know you through someone else. They haven't heard stories about your past or what kind of person you are. You are just you.
I started to compare this to the search for enlightenment. Yoga, meditation, Buddhism, really all religions if you want to look at it this way, they all centre around uncovering your true self. Stripping down the layers of personality and hobbies and all the artificial things that make up "you" and getting to the centre. To the purest form of you.
And I finally understood exactly how travel helps you find yourself. When you're out in the world, alone, meeting new people, you don't have a preconception of how to act around these people. You just have to be yourself. Your raw, pure, true self. It's a journey of discovery. Pealing back all the layers of who you thought you were and coming home to the truth.
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