We all have places, people, and experiences that make us feel the most comfortable, and give us a sense of normal. I have always seen being comfortable as a good thing, until I learned why it wasn’t.

Everything that we know, and our whole perception of the world is shaped by how we were raised, and the experiences that we had in our childhood. This perception is our own reality, and our filter feels like the right way to look at things, and it tells us what we think is actually real. Upon spending a week in northern California, I was in an environment with people from all over the world, as well as countless places in the US. There were people from Scotland, Australia, Ireland, England, Kenya, Germany, and many more countries, cultures and backgrounds. I found that almost everyone that I interacted with had a completely different thought process than I did, jobs I had never heard of, done things that were unimaginable to me, and lived in lifestyles that blew my mind! All of these people found their lives and habits to be completely normal, and were astounded by the mundane and boring things of my life that I was telling them (like my daily schedule, American traditions, or even the bring-a-tractor-to-school day that got quite a few laughs from urban residents). 

I believe that traveling is so important because of the exposure that is gained from getting to interact with other people from other nations and cultures. Never traveling, or exposing yourself to different cultures and ways of life is like only eating one food your entire life. You’re gonna get sick of it pretty quickly. When you get to try different foods, you will love some, find some to not be for you, and find some to just be ok! It’s the same with cultures. If I only spend my time living one way without exposing myself to something new every once in a while, that’s like having a sandwich for every meal every day for your entire life. The beneficial part about traveling is that you can then experiment with that sandwich, adding some different textures, flavors, and presentations to see which one you like the best, or want the most at that moment. The urge to travel isn’t to completely change your lifestyle, that’s not what I’m suggesting, it is to open the imagination to more than what you currently know. For me, it smashed the monotonous walls that I built and felt as the result of a repetitive schedule, and showed me that doing the same thing every day offers limitless chances to enjoy the schedule in a different way. People are interesting, you’d be surprised what can happen to you when you start to listen to them.