"No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection."
-Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fears
This is a quote I came across a few months preceding my trip; it seemed to speak specifically to my situation and I made a mental note to find it again. Upon reviewing it, I realize I don't agree with the entirety. Men who have no desire to travel can certainly be brave. And there are many people for whom quiet years of introspection would be far more beneficial than a stretch of road. However, I do think that travel can be a 'mirror-glass' forcing you to look, not upon the image of yourself, but upon your own inner-workings. Stepping away from the comforts and familiarity of home throws into sharp contrast the varnish of your particular society and the true character underneath.
I have many goals I wish to accomplish over the next 2 months of teaching and 5 months of hiking in New Zealand. This is the most ambitious: to truly meet myself. Some might argue with this declaration. They might say that hiking such a distance will be very physically taxing. It will be. They might say that throwing myself into an unfamiliar professional environment by student teaching in a foreign country will be socially challenging. It will be. But my greatest hope is that hours of quiet introspection on the road will give me a deeper understanding of myself - who I am, how I function, what I need out of life, and what I am able to give to the world. I also hope that this introspection will, in turn, give direction to my life, will help me reach a decision as to my purpose and how to accomplish it. Pablo Coelho says in his novel, The Alchemist, "to realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation." I hope this trip will help me discover, or at least recognize the first hints of, my destiny.
My happy problem is that I have many ideas of what to do after the trek. But which one to pick? Shall I go teach English in India, or Thailand? Or continue traveling, through Southeast Asia, across into Europe, and ever on with my best friend? Shall I return home and find a stable job and life? Or yet, shall I immediately fulfill my promise to work on an Indian Reservation? Any of these would be wonderful, fulfilling tasks. Or will I find that something else entirely is my destiny? Another quote from Coelho, a new favorite author of mine, is that "making a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision." At this moment, I feel very ready to accept whatever unforeseeable wonders, hardships, realizations, or purpose the world wishes to direct my way. Adolescence and young adulthood has been a dizzying affair, with me spinning, trying to see all things at once. I hope to find a direction for my life, a strait path to follow for as long as it is beneficial to myself and others.
I have several other goals and hopes for the trip, of course. I am extremely excited to teach in New Zealand, which has, by all accounts, an excellent curriculum and progressive methods. Not only this, but the school at which I am placed, Auckland Normal Intermediate, has a helpful and welcoming staff (and Principal) and is well-known for innovation and student participation and achievement. I hope to learn a great deal, especially about the Taha Maori program, which requires schools to teach students about the Maori cultural perspective. I think it will be a great help for when I work on the reservation and will give me an outline as to how to support children "living in two worlds".
I also can't wait to get in shape! Perhaps I will advertise a new weight loss program: hike 2000 miles to sculpt your perfect body. Vanity aside, however, I miss the feeling of being in peak condition, of not being limited by an out-of-shape body, of feeling able to accomplish whatever I set out to do physically. I want to be ready for whatever adventures may come my way!
I want to play lots and lots of music, to try using music to make money (more than once every 3 years), to share songs with my best friend (who is bringing her ukulele), and to generally improve my musicianship through consistent practice, which has been lacking these past several years. I want to brush up old pieces to a shiny new luster, to add some new ones to my repertoire, to try new styles, meet new people, and have fun with it.
Finally, I look forward to waking up in the morning, reviewing what I have to do for the day, and realizing all I have to do is walk for a while with my best friend and perhaps meet some interesting people along the way. This may seem frivolous, but if you know me, you will know how much I generally do every day. There were a few weeks last summer when I was working four jobs. That was a bit extreme, even for me, but for the past 5 years, I have consistently worked two jobs and been enrolled as a full time student at Indiana University. There have been mornings when I woke up, already exhausted, and been momentarily paralyzed by the amount of work I should accomplish. Additionally, I am a social person who enjoys spending time with her friends and family. Prioritizing those important people in your life is, I think, paramount, but it adds another layer of tiredness when all is said and done. And since, thanks to technology, I will be able to stay in touch with those important people, it will be a relief to step back into something simpler, for a while, from the stress of everyday life and from the pursuit of formal education and a potential career.
-Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fears
This is a quote I came across a few months preceding my trip; it seemed to speak specifically to my situation and I made a mental note to find it again. Upon reviewing it, I realize I don't agree with the entirety. Men who have no desire to travel can certainly be brave. And there are many people for whom quiet years of introspection would be far more beneficial than a stretch of road. However, I do think that travel can be a 'mirror-glass' forcing you to look, not upon the image of yourself, but upon your own inner-workings. Stepping away from the comforts and familiarity of home throws into sharp contrast the varnish of your particular society and the true character underneath.
I have many goals I wish to accomplish over the next 2 months of teaching and 5 months of hiking in New Zealand. This is the most ambitious: to truly meet myself. Some might argue with this declaration. They might say that hiking such a distance will be very physically taxing. It will be. They might say that throwing myself into an unfamiliar professional environment by student teaching in a foreign country will be socially challenging. It will be. But my greatest hope is that hours of quiet introspection on the road will give me a deeper understanding of myself - who I am, how I function, what I need out of life, and what I am able to give to the world. I also hope that this introspection will, in turn, give direction to my life, will help me reach a decision as to my purpose and how to accomplish it. Pablo Coelho says in his novel, The Alchemist, "to realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation." I hope this trip will help me discover, or at least recognize the first hints of, my destiny.
My happy problem is that I have many ideas of what to do after the trek. But which one to pick? Shall I go teach English in India, or Thailand? Or continue traveling, through Southeast Asia, across into Europe, and ever on with my best friend? Shall I return home and find a stable job and life? Or yet, shall I immediately fulfill my promise to work on an Indian Reservation? Any of these would be wonderful, fulfilling tasks. Or will I find that something else entirely is my destiny? Another quote from Coelho, a new favorite author of mine, is that "making a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision." At this moment, I feel very ready to accept whatever unforeseeable wonders, hardships, realizations, or purpose the world wishes to direct my way. Adolescence and young adulthood has been a dizzying affair, with me spinning, trying to see all things at once. I hope to find a direction for my life, a strait path to follow for as long as it is beneficial to myself and others.
I have several other goals and hopes for the trip, of course. I am extremely excited to teach in New Zealand, which has, by all accounts, an excellent curriculum and progressive methods. Not only this, but the school at which I am placed, Auckland Normal Intermediate, has a helpful and welcoming staff (and Principal) and is well-known for innovation and student participation and achievement. I hope to learn a great deal, especially about the Taha Maori program, which requires schools to teach students about the Maori cultural perspective. I think it will be a great help for when I work on the reservation and will give me an outline as to how to support children "living in two worlds".
I also can't wait to get in shape! Perhaps I will advertise a new weight loss program: hike 2000 miles to sculpt your perfect body. Vanity aside, however, I miss the feeling of being in peak condition, of not being limited by an out-of-shape body, of feeling able to accomplish whatever I set out to do physically. I want to be ready for whatever adventures may come my way!
I want to play lots and lots of music, to try using music to make money (more than once every 3 years), to share songs with my best friend (who is bringing her ukulele), and to generally improve my musicianship through consistent practice, which has been lacking these past several years. I want to brush up old pieces to a shiny new luster, to add some new ones to my repertoire, to try new styles, meet new people, and have fun with it.
Finally, I look forward to waking up in the morning, reviewing what I have to do for the day, and realizing all I have to do is walk for a while with my best friend and perhaps meet some interesting people along the way. This may seem frivolous, but if you know me, you will know how much I generally do every day. There were a few weeks last summer when I was working four jobs. That was a bit extreme, even for me, but for the past 5 years, I have consistently worked two jobs and been enrolled as a full time student at Indiana University. There have been mornings when I woke up, already exhausted, and been momentarily paralyzed by the amount of work I should accomplish. Additionally, I am a social person who enjoys spending time with her friends and family. Prioritizing those important people in your life is, I think, paramount, but it adds another layer of tiredness when all is said and done. And since, thanks to technology, I will be able to stay in touch with those important people, it will be a relief to step back into something simpler, for a while, from the stress of everyday life and from the pursuit of formal education and a potential career.
