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How Travel Became My Medium for Education

This is written by Honza (my husband), exploring how he’s embraced travel as an adult. Enjoy!

I feel like a failure. It looked so promising. I got my high school diploma. Then I went off to college. Then I went to study abroad. I got my college degree. I landed a great job thanks to my professor’s recommendation. I climbed the corporate ladder… Now?

I sit here in my in-law’s living room, wondering what happened. Where did I go wrong? Why wasn’t I just content with what I had? Why didn’t I buy into everybody’s opinion of a successful life? I guess I didn’t believe in it.

biking in Czech
Photo Credit: 4 Your Adventure. Biking in Czech.

What Society Expects from Us

Go to college. Get a degree. Get a good job. Get promoted… All of these are the general opinions that people talking to me about success believed. In my mind, there is always a level of doubt attached to a belief or opinion. I always like to question things. I always want to try it on my own.

Ultimately, I tried corporate life for almost seven years. It wasn’t working for me. After I tried it, I had a different view.

Stuck Between Realities

I found myself stuck between the two worlds. I was in Europe working, developing a promising career, while mentally, I was in the States spending time with my girlfriend (now wife). Those two different worlds possessed different characteristics, and I wanted to enjoy a little bit of both. I didn’t feel content. I still felt curious. I felt restless.

What else is out there for me? I felt like life had so much more to offer, but I couldn’t define it. All I knew was that my curiosity was piqued by the travel I had done so far and by living in different places.

honza on a mountain
Photo Credit: 4 Your Adventure.

What Did My Institutional Education Give Me?

After 30 years of developing into an independent human, I discovered I was missing the knowledge needed to go in the right direction. The knowledge needed to find my path in this world.

Now, I’m going through books that help to point me in that direction. And what do I find? I find that learning from the experiences of others has had so much more meaning than a school curriculum. Combining theoretical knowledge with practical application of that acquired knowledge is critical.

Learning from Scratch

Why did nobody tell me? All those years… I sat in a classroom, and basically, all I was required to do was repeat a script. Twenty years later, when I was done memorizing, I was required to apply my knowledge practically. I will not discuss the effectiveness of formal education here… at least not for now. However, I am in need to re-educate myself all over again. I need to find my truth to create the version of life I believe in.

Who’s Calling the Shots in Your Life?

What are you influenced mainly by in your life? What gets you the furthest in reaching your goals? What brings the best out of you?

People nowadays are mainly influenced by (and making decisions based on): parents, teachers, television, advertisers, and the culture at large.

Books are a Great Start to Finding Life’s Answers

Many of my friends struggle with important life questions like:

  • How do I find a job that fulfills me?
  • How do I find or retain a fulfilling romantic relationship?
  • How do I raise my children?

My answer: I don’t know. What I do know is other people know. So many books have been written on each of these and many other subjects of personal development and fulfillment. You have to find them. Find the one that speaks to you, and you associate with. It will help you improve your knowledge about the subject and create your version of truth. The world is changing fast, and formal education cannot keep up. What it comes down to is you must keep yourself informed as best as possible.

The Next Level: Travel

What if books just don’t cut it anymore? That’s when I like to take off and just go explore that ever-changing world on my own. For me, it started the other way around.

Traveling the world showed me there must be so much more than what everybody around me believed. I was thinking to myself, what is it? How do I find the true meaning?

The world is so big, and there are so many questions. Who can help me answer all of them? That’s when I found my way to books and resources that helped me clarify some of those questions. Travel and books now complement each other.

It is theoretical and practical knowledge in combination that helps me feel fulfilled. I learn something that gives me the power to move forward, and then I go and try to apply it in the real world. I am only at the beginning, but thanks to this realization, I know I am on the right path to creating my version of reality. Thanks to acquiring knowledge, I can focus on what is important and what helps me develop into the person I strive to be.

on a boat in asia
Photo Credit: 4 Your Adventure. Asia.

There are no shortcuts to success. There are no favors that help you feel fulfilled. It is only you who is responsible for finding the truth for yourself. It is you who is responsible for how you feel. Traveling and getting to know the world helped me to get on the path of knowing myself. Knowing that I am responsible for my fate. Knowing that I have the power to determine it.

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