Religion, Spirituality and Travel
To date, I’ve been to 63 countries. For the past four years, I’ve taken a sabbatical every year. A sabbatical is different from a vacation. I’ve taken a vacation once and believe me, it’s very boring and not fulfilling. I have nothing I need to take a break from. I can sit around and eat and rest at home. When you look up the word “sabbatical,” you’ll see things such as: it’s derived from the biblical Sabbath, which serves an ancient human need to build periods of rest and rejuvenation into a lifetime, getting an extended leave from work to pursue a break, a rest from work often lasting one month to a year, a time to get away, anew and refreshed, etc. I just finished watching a video from a travel blogger that I’m subscribed to (Anita Wing Lee), and she spoke about why she took a year break from social media and decided to plant her feet back in her hometown of Toronto. She spoke of her breakdown in Montenegro. She’d been to all these places in the world on her journey to search for the truth, and ultimately it led her back to the thing she once denounced…God. I’ve included the video below as well for your viewing. I was inspired to speak about the reason why I travel. I talk about it to people who ask, but I’ve never put it on paper, well, Microsoft Word in this day and age. I remember when I was completing my 50 states in 2017 (I had 12 states left, plus I hit a few provinces in Canada). My younger sister and I were on the phone, and she commented, “When are you bringing your Eat, Pray, Love self back home? Out there trying to find yourself.” I thought it was hilarious. It was funny to me because that’s what I wasn’t doing. I know a lot of young people who do travel to find themselves. Luckily, I knew as a child that it was about creating who you wanted to be. How can you find something that you never had? It’s not like when you were born you came out with a blueprint of who you had to grow up to be. By 15, I had already seen enough and been through enough situations to know who I wanted to be, and it was definitely solidified by 19. In the case of Anita, she was able to find religion again and become whole. I’m not a religious person. I don’t like what religion stands for. To me, it feels like a cult with a lot of rules, and if you don’t do it this or that way, you’re guaranteed to burn in hell. I grew up in Baptist churches until I was a teenager. My mom and dad went to separate churches. Now I did feel my mom’s church was more ‘laxed…but it was still Baptist. I remember feeling like and even being told that I couldn’t have communion until I was baptized. Boy/Girl BYE! I take communion to this day and give one to my youngins that aren’t baptized. And I still haven’t been baptized. I tried to do it in the Jordan River when I was in Israel, but it’s a long story. And once I got on site, I realized that everything happened for a reason, and I didn’t want to do it there anymore, especially not with someone else’s pastor. As I digress, once I became a teenager, my family started going to a non-denominational Christian church. I like those types of churches, and I still attend one to this day. I wouldn’t say I ever frayed away from the church. I even went to church throughout college. I guess I was lucky, especially from hearing other people’s stories. I never felt that religion or Christianity was pushed on me growing up. I never felt I had to go to Bible study, Sunday school, and be at the church 24/7. It’s funny because my dad is like that now with his younger kids, but I guess he wasn’t in that place with his first wife (my mother). It’s kind of like being a Democrat. My family comes from a long line of Democrats, but that doesn’t mean I have to be one. I’m my own person; I can make my own decisions. And for the record, I’m not a Democrat or Republican. I look more at what a candidate stands for, and no candidate in my lifetime has eased me of this student loan debt, so I don’t care about any of them. Back on topic, I’ve always known/felt that there has to be something more than I, something higher than I, something that has more power than I can possess on my own. I don’t think you understand how many V.I.P. exits God has executed on my behalf. V.I.P. exits are things you thought you wanted or situations you could have easily been put in, that God has saved you from. Roads you could have been led down, but God detoured you, and life is better for it. Even if you couldn’t see it then, you see it now. It took me six months, but I finished reading the Bible in 2013; I had recently turned 22. Yes, it’s definitely some things in there that I take with a grain of salt, but the message is still there at the end of the day. I always say I’d rather believe in something than nothing. My travel journeys have taken me to the Holy Land, and honestly, I feel more connected to God when I’m home. Especially walking through the Old City, I could feel the arrogant vibes from some “religious” people. And you can believe what you want to believe, but I don’t personally believe that God would put a certain group of people over another. I have no time for the “chosen people” debate. But am I spiritual? Yes, 100%. My spirituality lies in Christianity. But how did I find my spirituality? Did travel have a part to play? No. It has always been there; I just honed it into my own experience, something that I could 100% accept based on my thinking, my experiences, my viewpoint, my learnings through research, and it’s forever growing. So why do I travel, let alone take sabbaticals? Traveling for me, taking sabbaticals is a way for me to be alone with myself. A time for me to get out of the everyday hustle and bustle that one feels they need to be a part of to survive in America. I get away from the American mindset, the American way of living. I use sabbaticals to grow me mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Why can’t you just meditate daily? Because it’s not getting away from the problem. You get away for an hour or so, but then you’re thrust right back into it. You need to fully immerse yourself elsewhere for an extended period to actually allow something to work. It’s like being injured, taking a day’s rest, and then returning to work. No, to heal the injury, you need to rest for weeks, and then you can return to the situation in a better condition. I travel to assist in sustaining my peace. That’s my life’s mantra. I tell all the men that try to talk to me, “Don’t stress me, because as soon as you disturb my peace…I’m gone.” Lol. But for real, that’s with anything in life. I’ve been blessed to know that money isn’t everything and that I’m truly blessed. Traveling does that to you; it humbles you. It makes you realize that the Western mentality isn’t everything. I’m already rich…literally. People are out here surviving off a salary of $40 a month and still thankful for what they have. People are out here eating from trashcans and sleeping on the dirt ground. I’ve quit marketing programs because a new party wanted to come in and disturb my peace. The money will come, but I won’t be peaceless while acquiring it. I applaud the people who travel to search for the truth, find themselves, discover a higher power, and actually find it. Nothing is more fulfilling than finding what you’ve been searching for; answers mean everything! I love hearing stories about people that were hollow but made whole. I’m happy that they’re happy, that they’re able to find joy. But now you know my story, I travel for an expansion of enlightenment. My foundation has always been there, but it’s always good to deepen it, make it anew, and be immersed in another way of living. Travel allows me to prune myself in order to bring about even more peace. Now, who can’t use an abundance of peace?!