I’m The Dreamer That Plays It Safe

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Being an avid social media user, I always indulge myself in travel posts by flipping through photo albums, watching videos, or reading blogs. It’s a terrible habit, really. Sometimes, I like to pretend I’m the person taking those photos and videos or writing those blogs. I imagine that I’m far away somewhere having the time of my life discovering the earth.

Do you ever get a strong urge to travel and explore the world? It could be anywhere: a new city, town, or country. Ideally, you would go somewhere where you can indulge in a new culture, scenery, or hobby. It’s something you have never done before: leaving with little notice. It’s spontaneous. It’s new. All you want to do is see something different. You want to go on an adventure, get lost, and befriend strangers while gaining new life experiences.

For once, you want to follow your heart and travel to a destination that you have always wanted to go. You want to indulge yourself in that culture by eating delicacies like pasta, escargot or snake wine. You want to learn the official language and participate in traditional ceremonies. On top of that, you want to do something adventurous like climb a volcano, go on a jungle trek, or take a hot air balloon ride. Ultimately, you want the feeling of liberation and personal satisfaction that traveling offers.

All of a sudden, rationality finally sinks in. You begin to weigh the positives and negatives of leaving and the more logically you think, the more unrealistic it becomes. You realize that flights and hotels are too expensive, especially at this time of the year. Taking a train or bus will take too long and you can’t afford to take so much time off work or school. You know that the official language is not something you are fluent in and you’re worried that you won’t be able to get by. Besides, you would have to go alone because all of your friends are currently busy or have no money to spend traveling. On top of that, the timing is wrong because you have a dentist appointment in two weeks!

So, you don’t want to go anymore. You tell yourself that it’s a good thing. You just saved yourself a lot of money that you can spend on other items like new shoes or a jacket. You won’t have to deal with the hassle and stress of booking a flight or worry about mapping your way around a new city. It’s much easier, cheaper and safer this way. Instead of going, you decide to stay home. You play it safe; you continue dreaming.

image – Shutterstock