Momentum

I've been back in the country for a little over a month now. Everyone asks me how my trip was. They ask what I did, who I met, the places I went, and the most popular of questions; "What was your favorite thing about the trip?" The impossibility of answering this question stems not just from the fact that it's difficult to pick a favorite instance from a nearly three month long adventure, but also because the most valuable gifts of these experiences are almost certainly, indescribable. I've tried to narrow my stories down to one country...then further, down to one main event...then down to a one sentence description. Finally, I can narrow it down to one word: Momentum.

I should probably have prefaced this (and most of my previous posts, for that matter) with the admission that I am an amateur amongst pros when it comes to traveling. My posts talk about travel igniting dormant energies of freedom, fearlessness, and self discovery. I have no illusions about being a pioneer- theses are secrets of traveling's treasures that millions before me, have long been privy to.  I humbly accept my novice "traveler" status, and realize that I have all but dipped a toe into the gentle waters of a world many others have already dived into head first.  That being said, these are my experiences as I have graciously received them.

So to me, traveling is most simply described as "momentum." There's a wave that rolls, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, throughout your body when you travel. It's a sway in your feet, and a spur constantly churning under your heels. It's the all encompassing, insatiable
urge to get up and go. Traveling is kinetic energy, in the most pure and personal form. Its a motor inside your soul, that hums and drones and moans and finally WAILS its vibrations into every corner of you. Its the feeling of movement that grooves to your own beat, swinging you back and forth around the barriers of your comfort zone. Its a pulse that quickens inside you, keeping you awake at night while you roll giggling in bed trying to shut down and slip into slumber. Its personal in where it takes you, and the confrontations of "self" it leads you to . For some, the momentum throws them deep into lands and cultures they've never dreamed of. For others, it can be as simple an energy as the gentle nudge to be more outgoing with others. For me, it was both of these things, and everything in between. It was a feeling of being on top of the world where anything is possible, once I accept that I'm strong enough to just grab for it.

So now when people ask me what I got from my trip, I have a simple "go to" answer: momentum. I gained fire and passion.  I gained the desire to move, and shake, and create, and dance wildly to the shuffle of life's up's and down's. I gained the grace to wonder, to ask questions, to forgive myself for shortcomings, and to try again in endeavours I've been intimidated by, or failed at in the past.  These are my gains, and I hope to take them with me forever.