Self-Discovery

I've had an important bit of self-realization over the last couple of days, thanks to everything that I've been experiencing personally. I've discovered that I am a purpose-driven person. It's not that I need to have things to do to occupy my mind and hide behind. It's more that I'm a goal-oriented person, and when I take up something big like this, I need to have a purpose in mind. This trip was all about running away, making a clean break after my life as a student, and to let go of all responsibility for a while. Much to my amazment, I've discovered that I like having some responsibility, I get energized from having somthing to work towards. The last time I backpacked throughout eastern europe, it was with a school course. So every day, I had a purpose. I was always working towards something. This time, I'm not. True, there has been culture shock and it is very tiring moving around from place-to-place without a base, but I'm wandering aimlessly. In europe, we moved around constantly, always on the go. And there was some culutre shock, although I'm much more familiar with eastern european culture than asian culture. But still, we spent most of our time in places where we didn't know the language. What anchored me was having a purpose.

And so, I've pretty well come to the conclusion that 4 weeks of aimless backpacking is enough. I'm not very good at being listless for a long period of time, espetially if I'm not in familiar surroundings or situations. I think it would have been different if I had come here for work or for some kind of a project. I don't have any regrets. In fact, this realization has been a true gift, and I feel content and happy. Yes, I'm homesick, I miss family, friends, a kitchen and a closet. But I'm also ready to grab on to my next goal and to move forward.