Marking my one year anniversary
In what seems like the blink of an eye, the one year backpacking landmark has crept upon my journey and has filled my day with a nostalgic sense of happiness amongst a million other emotions. As I think back about what I’ve experienced in arguably my most life changing year so far, I was overcome with the awareness of how quickly it had flown by. Mentioning this brevity to my closest friend back in England however I was met with a contrasting opinion. Whereas it felt to me like I had left only yesterday, she was quick to remind me how much had happened in this year both for me and for her. And this quickly struck a chord. There is an arrogance that surrounds travelling (and I admit I’m guilty of this myself) of assuming to a certain degree that not much has changed back home. Whist we galavant around the globe on a fast-paced adventure, it is easy to picture the monotonous life that you left behind and the routine that can quickly fill up a year. How awfully arrogant of me, truly. In my defence the image that we draw up in our minds of home, as if frozen in time, offers a safety net for someone lacking in the stability of a permanent residence. Providing one final link to our former years, the thought of rekindling the life you left off is comforting even though this is as far from the truth as possibly could be. Though this year has flown by, my friend reminded me how much has happened for her and how she felt that I left much longer ago. And that’s the real, painful reality. Although my journey has taken me across continents to places where I have gained much more than I ever could back in London, some of my friends journeys have led them to new careers, new homes, a marriage, some children, new tattoos, lots of dramas, break-ups, family holidays, new friends, new lessons and a life as equally as fulfilled as mine - just in different ways. The choices they made, like mine, were theirs alone and they haven’t looked back. And just like that the world that revolves around my travels felt much smaller than I had realised. As it goes today marks one year since I left London with a gut-wrenching fear of the unknown intertwined with a deep-seated urge to see what the world has to offer. Sure, I’ve traversed the globe and lived in hostels, warehouses, squats, rainforests; met people from every continent and experimented and learnt from an array of places. But today also marks a year for every other bloody person I know. In the space of this year my parents have finally started redecorating their house, bought some cat, and finally started living again after having children, my brother has experienced his first painful life changing break-up (he also shaved his head, lol) and my best friend has began to question whether her nursing career is really what she wants to continue doing. I’ve had friends publish books, go on tour with their bands, people start degrees, end degrees, move in with partners and out. So yes today marks a huge hurdle for myself and I know that I have certainly changed since I left English soil, but today I also pay homage to everyone else and how much they have achieved in one long, winding year. Though these journeys take on completely different forms, one thing I can now be certain of is that we’ve all lived.
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Tamara DavisonNepal, China, Malaysia, Australia, Argentina. Archives
November 2017
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