Self Discovery in Six Months

Next week will mark my first six months on the road. To say that time has flown by would be an understatement. And as corny and  clichéd as it is, everything that you get told is true. You really do start to learn more about yourself on the road than you ever did in your comfort zone at home. And not all of it is pretty.

I have always imagined myself to be a fairly laid back person, who can take anything in their stride, who is organised (sometimes ridiculously so) and able to take on anything. Whether I’m on holidays in Vietnam or taking a weekend break in a European city, I figured I could conquer anything and everything with ease. And yet an ever-changing backdrop of different countries, accommodation, transport and budget has highlighted things about myself that I have never realised before.

Firstly, I am all but useless if I don’t get a good night’s sleep and a cup of coffee in the morning. At home I had always taken my routine for granted and thought nothing of whether I was a light sleeper or not. And that cup of strong coffee I drunk every morning? That was just a pick-me-up; I was totally non-dependent on it. Wrong. Now if I don’t sleep well AND I don’t have coffee, I am cranky, can’t concentrate and am pretty much useless for the whole day unless I have a decent nap mid-afternoon.

Secondly, I place a lot of emphasis on food. I have always had a great love affair with food (read: greedy) but I had never realised before how bad food can really affect my mood and my enjoyment of a destination. I even base my travel plans around places that have food that I love and get really annoyed if I get overcharged for bad food – something which I had never picked up on at home because I was in charge of my own food shopping and where I ate out.

Thirdly, I get stressed out a lot more than I used to. I think this relates back to the time in my life when I lost my job, was a single parent to two dogs and had bills and a mortgage to pay. I started to worry about how I would juggle everything and some of that seems to have carried through to present day, even though I hate myself for it.

But it isn’t all doom and gloom. I’ve also realised that I have some really good qualities that I had never really noticed before.

I am really good at sticking to budgets. I guess I have my parents to thank for this for bringing me up to respect money and the power of it.

I am also really good at keeping my belongings safe and being tidy in hostel rooms. This has meant that apart from one pair of earrings (which actually was through no fault of my own, but instead the cleaner in the hotel we were staying at) I have lost nothing in these six months of travel (please God I don’t jinx that now!)

Lastly, I’m a much quicker learner than I ever recognised I was. I can pick up and repeat foreign phrases often after only hearing them once and can follow directions easily. I am also good at making people believe I know what I’m talking about even when I have no clue (hey, I’ve fooled you lot, haven’t I?) – I quickly realised this whilst volunteering at a hostel and having to give directions and information about things I knew nothing about!

I guess travel really is a learning curve regarding your personality, both good and bad, meaning that in the future you can make more informed decisions about what makes you happy.