The Three Types of Travelers, on the Road to Contentment: Which Traveler Are You?

Thank you for reading TSLL. The first two posts are complimentary. You have 1 free post view remaining this month.

Become a Member for as little as $4/mo and enjoy unlimited reading of TSLL blog.

Once the plans are made, once the train pulls into the station or the plane touches down at our destination, and once the jet lag has been muddled through, gifts aplenty await to be discovered, and one gift is insight into whether or not we are grounded in contentment. And if not the latter, then how to arrive at this fulfilling state of being.

Depending upon where we are in our life journey, not respective of age, but regarding whether or not and also how much work we have done to get to know ourselves and heal ourselves, travel will reflect back to us what would be helpful to live a life of ease, fulfillment, and yep, contentment. And if we already are living a life of contentment, each trip becomes all the more amazing regardless of how it unfolds. Let me explain.

“[We] must go on adventures to find out where [we] truly belong.”

I came across the following quote while I have been in France, and what your immediate interpretation of this quote is is a reflection of where you are in your life journey. What do I mean by this?

1st interpretation

If you read this quote and assessed it to mean that literally the places we travel to at some point will be the physical place to call home, then look around your everyday life environment as it stands today, and ask the following question: What is making me feel discontented? Why don’t I feel fulfilled where I am currently and in the lifestyle I live? And what can I do, what is within my control to change?

Travel at this stage is all about gathering information, stretching your boundaries, seeing new ways of life and the world that you didn’t know existed or were possible. There are a tremendous amounts of ahas at this stage, and even, times of overwhelm because it is as if, and I talk about it happening to me when I traveled to France for the first time back in 2000 (chapter six of The Road to Le Papillon), you are being broken open, expanding and as exciting and as positive as this sounds, and it is, it is scary and shocking. Why? Because you are seeing validation that what you loved or liked or were curious about really is possible even if it wasn’t trusted to be possible, supported or encouraged in the culture or life you are currently calling home.

This doesn’t mean you are going to be packing up your things and moving to your travel destination post full-time, but it does often give you the courage to make changes or decisions of significance that change the environment you are living in currently.

And I will say this, you will forever moving forward have an endearing spot in your soul for the destinations that prompts this aha along your life journey. This is probably why France and Britain are two of my favorite countries to visit 😌🇫🇷🇬🇧❤️

2nd interpretation

If you read this quote and immediately a homesickness arose, then ask yourself why am I not able to live fully in the present moment? Why am I not able to feel comfortable in a new, distant country and culture? And you may then ask yourself, why cannot I not rest and best at ease in discomfort and in uncertainty? Is that even possible? (At this point, you doubt that it is.)

What becomes available to us when we answer these questions as honestly as we can is an invaluable truth that will assist us along our journey to experiencing contentment every single day of our life whether we are traveling or going about our life at home. Here’s the awesome truth to understand: While traveling away from home is a big temporary shift, our everyday life will also give us moments that are unsettling, and sometimes these moments drag on for weeks and months, even a year or so, and when we know how to navigate through them fully present, grounded and responsive rather than reactive, we can navigate those unwanted moments so well that we actually not only learn something, but also walk away a more amazing version of ourselves, in many ways an evolved us that can never return to who we were.

A chosen trip of travel that is not as we had expected or doesn’t go to plan (and that too is something to let go – expectations, and part of why it is hard to stay present. Expectations hold us in a future moment we have created in our mind.) is in many ways practice for seeing if we are truly living a life of contentment. Because if we are, then we find peace within ourselves wherever in the world we may be. We know how to nourish ourselves, we know how our energy levels ebb and flow and we are strong within ourselves to set boundaries, but also able to stretch our limits because we know where we can stretch a bit, but also where we will not.

3rd interpretation

If you read this quote and immediately reflected upon your most recent trip and how it, even though it is/was going well, you found yourself more deeply appreciating the life – routines and rituals, relationships and all that you have thoughtfully cultivated with intention – that you currently live, that you call home, then you are living a life of contentment.

You are someone who knows the value of travel, and will always continue to do so, continuing to bring back memories and insights, a broader perspective and broader still curiosity about the world, while also savoring the life you have cultivated back at home. And upon returning you will consciously infuse something you learned or discovered while traveling that sings to your soul into your everyday life. This doesn’t mean your travel plans won’t grow in length or even prompt you to someday live in one of the places you fell in love with, but you don’t travel searching for home; you’ve already cultivated a home and understand the priceless ingredients that make it such.

You know that cultivating a home, a physical sanctuary but also the community we create that surrounds our sanctuary, takes time, intention, and a deep knowledge of yourself, an honest examination and willingness to continually grow, and it also comes with being brave enough to commit to something, to invest – a passion or a journey that you care deeply about that has the potential (but never not the promise) of amazing dividends.

Parisbrasserieoutdoorterrassegreenwovenchairbistro

The third interpretation of the quote is the perspective that doesn’t happen immediately along our life journey, nor is it guaranteed, but when you begin to see your travel experience through this lens, you are indeed living a life of contentment both abroad and at home. In other words, in every single day of your amazing life.

Two things must happen for us to have the third interpretation, and neither are guaranteed because we must choose them, especially the second: (1) We have to travel a bit. Depending upon how we traveled and with whom and the perspectives and cultures we were taught, exposed to, etc., the amount of travel or length of time will differ; and (2) we have to choose to do the work of knowing ourselves, then learn the skills to heal while also being brave in our life choices. These choices have to do with our everyday life, not our travel choices. Choosing to honor what we discover about our true self, choosing to set boundaries, choosing to learn, choosing to trust and let go of what tomorrow will bring while being wise and engaged with what we can control that will put the odds in our favor without a strangle-hold. (This journey of self-knowledge and skills to learn are each taught in detail in TSLL’s Contentment Masterclass – learn more here.)

If where you are aligns with the third interpretation, you are living a life of contentment in more ways than you may have realized. It is not an accident that you have arrived here; it was with intention, and you no doubt have navigated through unwanted and painful moments, but you saw the gifts in those moments and chapters and you were given something that forever changed you in beautiful ways rather than broke you and stunted your opportunity and ability to grow.

I can reflect back on each of these interpretations and have found myself experiencing each one at some point along my life journey. It only began a handful of years ago that I resided entirely in the 3rd interpretation, and in fact, during this current trip, I feel more at ease than I have ever felt before. It takes time, but with intention, you will arrive there. When you do, celebrate, savor and congratulate yourself for engaging with life, listening to what you were encouraged to learn and not stepping back in fear. Each trip will only be more worthwhile, and each day in your everyday life will be elevated more amazingly than you may have thought ever could be possible.