Travel, especially long journeys undertaken solo, is often associated with personal development. Not only is discovering foreign cultures a humbling and mind-expanding experience, providing valuable external reference points and alternative perspectives to the cultural norms of one’s upbringing, but significant distance from a familiar work routine, friends and family, can open space to reflect on how we think and operate in our “normal” lives. Furthermore, one can build a sense of self-confidence and resourcefulness through navigating practical challenges such as language barriers, arranging transport across unfamiliar terrain, and managing feelings of boredom and loneliness that can rear their head amongst the excitement. While I don’t believe the cliche that traveling alone is a guaranteed way to “find yourself”, it can serve as an excellent education about life and personal values. At its best, having space to think and explore may help someone to work out what personal qualities they aim to take forward through life: how to apply light-heartedness, curiosity and inspiration to more structured and settled routines and through situations of greater pressure and responsibility than just being on holiday.
This poem, written between my rather lavish hostel room (😊😊😊) and Chiang Mai’s Zohng Café, touches on some different aspects of my journey: reflection and growth; feeling tired from movement and time away from home; tapping into the beauty and peacefulness around me that makes that tiredness not so hard to bear…
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Light through the window
My loyalties are all scattered; feet knackered
There’s light through the window
its shadow is slatted
as I sift out new value
from things that once mattered.
When I was younger,
beliefs seemed concrete - emphatic -
but now that old narrative crackles like static.
Truth was once black and white
now it’s only a series of greys —
binaries shattered,
leaving just present moments and fresh days.
There’s ghosts that came out
from their box in the attic
but their smoke doesn’t phase me,
I’m stronger than ever:
a soul so erratic, seeking deeper tethers.
Ruffling a few feathers
may be a side effect of being yourself
of knowing your boundaries
and protecting your own mental health.
You’ll love others best
when you love number one —
There’s light through the window
and it sprays me with sun.
Tighter bindings undone
by that chiselling away process.
Sometimes thorns in your side
stay, for you cling to them closest.
What you heard others say
can embed in your mental chatter;
though those insults were baseless, they still leave your pride tattered.
Release the negative automatic
or just see it, and cease to give it power
honouring your expansion
and opportunities to flower.
Whatever scars mar a trunk,
its branches can’t help but grow
(cracks in late winter soil /
buds bursting headstrong through snow).
When the frozen lake’s shattered
all that’s dormant starts to flow,
rhythms of synergy gently resumed.
I’m yawning - exhausted - it’s mid-afternoon.
And there’s light through the window
which whispers “let go”.
Sometimes I get lost, unsure who to be.
There’s light through my window
whose wisdom helps me see.