Living in Translation: Why I Travel / Thanksgiving Thoughts

Let’s be candid for a moment. Traveling isn’t always easy. It isn’t always fun. Homesickness is real and culture shock is rough. But like an addict I somehow keep coming back for more. Why? Well let’s look at an example.

This Saturday I slept in later than usual. Of course, I had a to-do list circling in my head the moment I woke up, but I allowed myself to push it aside for the time being and met a friend for churros at a nearby cafetería instead. Afterwards, I decided to take a stroll around town (with the half valid reason/excuse that I needed the exercise and the weather was nice), and by mid-afternoon I found myself in a park on the opposite side of town from my house, sitting on a park bench, watching young families play on the playground across the way. And then, it hit me...

{Life is good.}

Of course, this may seem like an insignificant realization on a better than average day (and even more so when you’re living in Spain). But, think about it for a moment. When was the last time you were made aware of just how good you have it in life, of just how many opportunities you have ahead of you, or of just how much you’ve been blessed with up until this point?

Under everyday, “normal” circumstances it is so easy to lose sight of how good life really is. I’m guilty of this. I’m pretty sure I spent the better part of a year during college wishing I were “anywhere but here,” not even stopping to think of all the good things I already had around me. So maybe I can’t always practice what I preach, but the optimist in me says that no matter what my situation is I should be wholly thankful for what I have. Travel helps me maintain that perspective.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying those who don’t travel can’t be truly happy or thankful. In the last year I spent in the States living the typical study-work-eat-sleep-repeat lifestyle, I’d like to think I reached a very healthy level of thankfulness and optimism towards life. It’s just that, at least in my case, the act of displacing myself from somewhere familiar, exposing myself to new ways of life and new scenery, makes me hyper-aware of this life I’m living.

Now you may be thinking, of course you can be thankful… You’re living in SPAIN, Hannah. What’s not to love? But I’ll tell you, it’s not always in the most glamorous moments associated with travel that I realize just how good I have it. Yes, of course it happens when I come upon a breathtaking view or when I try an out-of-this-world new dish (duh), but sometimes it happens when I’m just waiting in line at the bank or watching TV in my living room. All of the sudden I’m overcome by this overwhelming feeling: This is my life. I am blessed.

From an outsider’s perspective it may be hard to understand what the heck is going on with me in these moments. Its those times when I end up just standing there immobile with a half grin, half emotional wreck look on my face, caught between laughing, crying and beaming.

In the moment, of course, I can’t explain it. No words will come out. But, I hope this blog helps with that a little. I hope it also inspires you to be a little optimistic too. To realize, no matter what your situation, just how good life is and just how much we all have to be {thankful} for.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.