My first solo travel adventure was in 2015. I was hooked. The thrill of absolute freedom and dealing with bumps in the road on my journey was my dream come true. I got sick, and injured, and lost, and most importantly I learned to trust myself. That confidence bleeds into all aspects of myself.
Meeting people from all walks of life, witnessing extreme poverty and sheer wealth, broadened my perspective on parts of life I took for granted. A visual representation of this looks like litter on a beach, which I encountered often when I was in Southeast Asia. It would be easy to feel angry for the environmental effect, but feeling for the locals and the challenges they face, including unstable or neglectful government, a currency with little international value, and straight up lack of infrastructure to facilitate recycling… that takes empathy. Nothing has deepened my sense of empathy more than listening to these people and their stories.
