Travel

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
-Mark Twain

There is nothing I love more than to travel. The simple act of going somewhere new equates itself to possibility for me. I love not knowing what I will find around the corner or who I will meet, and meeting people is the best part. To meet people, I wholeheartedly recommend youth hostels. Forget the horror film connotations and stay in one; in Europe in particular, and you will meet people from all over the world. I still have friends I've met from my stays in hostels. I may discuss travel a lot in future blogs, because I feel there is no better way to celebrate the magnificent gift we've been given of this earth than to relish every place we can. Drink it in.
The first time I went to Europe (and I'll be the first to say I have so much more travel I want to do and in no way am I a seasoned explorer) but the first time I went was Greece in 2008. I went with my sister and we arrived in Athens to a hot, crowded but still unbelievably historic place. Even the soil held resonance when I imagined that underneath the archeological layers of earth, there were entire lives led and cities constructed. I felt invigorated by being overseas. We traveled on to the awe inducing island of Santorini and then to the tropical vibe of Crete. I learned perhaps for the first time, just how big the world really is. I was reminded about how small it can be too when I mentioned to a stranger on a bus about my experience with a non profit called Invisible Children and a woman a few rows up turned around and asked me if I knew a girl who in fact had been one of my good friends and roommates. Crazy how people can connect. The world is limitless in the things we can experience if we are open to GO.

Change

"When you are through changing, you are through." ~Bruce Barton

When people think of change, many get stuck on the magnitude of the problem or situation. I've learned that change is almost invisible while it is occurring, only obvious once it has happened. When I think of the changes I see in myself, most of the time, I never realized they were happening. They just did. That doesn't mean I didn't set out to change, work hard and apply myself. Anyone who has ever dieted or began a workout regime will identify with this. But even in those surface changes attempted, a deeper change is at work inside. This refers to one's mindset, how they view their routine, their habits and even their possibilities. They begin a steady transformation but usually don't notice the results. Then one day, they are different. This doesn't just allude to health and fitness, which I admit I am currently at work to alter, this is true for all of life. Growing up is change in perhaps it's most gradual form. The baby becomes the child, the child becomes the teen and the teen becomes the adult. Change never stops. It is essential that it never stop. Life and this earth are in constant transformation.
To accept that the world has heartbreaking realities does not negate the responsibility we all have to attempt change. No, there may not be some cataclysmic alteration. Peace may never be worldwide, but it is imperative to work toward that change. If there is injustice or hurt somewhere then it must be addressed. We may not recognize the monumental things happening on a day to day scale but the beauty is in the efforts toward that change. It is in the silent way you touch someone's life and perhaps more unexpected; the way you impact your own. Do not be dissuaded by the immensity of our world's problems. Set out to change what you can. This may be in your home, your town, your country or on the other side of the world. No matter where, it will also be in yourself that the greatest change happens.