ON TRAVELING

Etimology:
TRAVAILEN, TRAVELEN to torment, labor, strive, journey, from Anglo-French TRAVAILLER. Date: 14th Century.
TRAVAGLIO in Italian, it’s the labour pain, part of the delivery after pregnancy. Labor = work

________________________________________________________________

When we travel, we start a journey not only towards a physical destination, but also towards an emotional one. When we travel, we are starting the process of becoming what we have always dreamt of becoming. We are letting the unknown enter the field, we let our resistance go and we are closer to understanding who we really are, beyond the environment that we’re leaving behind.

Like in its etimology, the word travel contains a very broad set of descriptions: take the torment, for example.
What is the torment, if not a movement of our soul struggling to reach its desired destination? To strive, to devote our serious efforts and energy to the cause of traveling, to move, to shift, to transform. The preparation for a journey, the beginning of traveling, it’s nothing but a reflection of what’s happening inside of us, while we are preparing to accept anything that will come our way and welcome it as a tool for our growth. Like a warrior painting his face before he goes hunting, so the girl applies make-up before she begins her journey, not knowing what she will find on her path. Different times, but equal tribal customs. The excitement that we prove before we travel, doesn’t come only from a reaction to our expectation to see a new location, because the real novelty will be to find a new location inside of us. We know this but we don’t admit it. Or perhaps, we will understand this only at the end of the journey.

In any case, the physical movement, the logistic movement, becomes a mere reflection of what’s happening within us. It’s an expansion of our boundaries, and because of this, can sometimes create anxiety and fear. Fear of realizing that we are not who we think we are and fear to witness a reality that doesn’t match the one that we have created in our existing dimension. Fear of leaving our comfort zone, a place where we are accepted, a place where everything moves with inertia, in a constant motion moving in the same straight line unless modified by an external force.

Traveling to a different place means being able to let go of all our existing notions about culture, behavior, discipline, audacity and sensibility. While we are traveling, we are starting to understand better where we are going and where we are coming from.