Why I Finally Stopped Apologizing for My Love of Travel

Since before I can remember, I have had a problem with commitment. I would always change my mind about all kinds of things, I always had a lot of hobbies, and a lot of different things interested me. When I was a teenager I thought that it was just a temporary condition, and that I was just searching for the right thing, right profession, right place or the right person. A few good years have passed and I’m still in that “temporary phase” of my life.

The only difference is that now, I know that it’s not really temporary.

Some people settle down and commit to careers, places and relationships very easily. Others don’t. I’m among those who don’t and I can say that I never really committed to anything 100%. Well, almost. The only thing that I know I’ll never abandon is travelling. Traveling is the only thing that I’ve been doing for years, and I’m still not tired of it.

Society expects us to be calm and grounded, and because our biological clocks are ticking, we need to figure out everything in our mid-twenties so then we can start the process of settling down.

I’ve tried out so many things in life. I’ve changed countries, jobs, hobbies and styles; I’ve tried teaching, singing, photographing, taking care of kids, waitering, writing, translating, selling, and diving. I’ve lived in different countries, spoken different languages, eaten new types of food, and hung out with new people. I’m constantly cutting and growing my hair, exchanging skirts with shorts and heels with sneakers, going from wearing make up every day to no make-up at all. Everything, but my love to travel, has constantly changed.

There was a time when I thought that I couldn’t commit to anything. My mom kept pointing out that I was constantly changing, that I couldn’t just choose ONE country, ONE job, etc. Well, I couldn’t and I still can’t. I actually felt bad about this for a long period of time. I believed those voices that said that there was something wrong with me, because I wasn’t like other “normal” people.

As the years passed, I felt even more confused with my life choices, especially when I had to explain them to others. After all, we women live under the pressure to become someone’s wife and mother one day. Society expects us to be calm and grounded, and because our biological clocks are ticking, we need to figure out everything in our mid-twenties so then we can start the process of settling down–which includes choosing one profession to pursue, one husband for the rest of our lives, and one place where we want to build a house and raise our kids. God forbid we don’t follow this path!

Why I Finally Stopped Apologizing for My Love of Travel

But then I read this line from Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love:

“I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless, newborn baby–I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to–I just don’t care.”

That was it. That was a moment of understanding and a moment of relief. Whatever everyone else is thinking, whatever they made me believe, it was not true. I am and I have always been committed and loyal to my love to travel. I adore it and it gives me a purpose in life. I’m in love with discovering and learning about the world. I’m committed to overcoming my limitations and my fears. I’m loyal to the travel bug I caught many years ago. I’m changing all the time because the circumstances require me to. I change jobs so I can adjust to the place where I currently am based.

I am and I have always been committed and loyal to my love to travel. I adore it and it gives me a purpose in life.

I fall in love with new languages and new cultures that I encounter on my way because this is what travelling is about. I’m open to everything that the world has to offer, and I don’t plan too much because it kills the fun of going with the flow and letting unexpected things in your life. This is who I am and this is the life I chose, and finally I feel like I’ve come to peace with that.

I don’t feel like I must commit to one place or one job anymore. If it happens one day, great, but If it doesn’t, I won’t blame myself. For now, my love of travel is stronger than my love for anything else in this world and I don’t feel like I have to give it up in order to follow someone else’s idea of how my life should look.

For now, my love of travel is stronger than my love for anything else in this world and I don’t feel like I have to give it up in order to follow someone else’s idea of how my life should look.

After all, there is this one thing that makes me extremely happy and makes me overcome all of the obstacles that grow bigger and bigger every year. I will do everything to keep traveling even if it means starting my life from scratch every year or few months. Because that’s what people in love do, right?