A teacher, from whom I learned about life in an enlivening way, a way in which I started to reflect on perspectives differently, told me to go out and explore as many places as possible. “Some will disappoint, and some will not.”
This made me think about the way in which we perceive other places and the journey of discovering foreign locations. Do we always expect to be positively surprised? Do we take it for granted that a place, as much as it is about the physical environment, is also about the atmosphere we ourselves create with our approach, engagement, and mindset?
I have been to places, I have seen wonders I will forever carry with me in my baggage of memories, but I have also experienced situations I wish had been left on the conveyor belt. Places where reality far exceeded my expectations, and locations where dreams were bruised.
However, experiencing is not merely looking or, as some may resort to, shooting a scene with a camera to forever store it but perhaps not remember it. No, experiencing is to observe, to sense, to feel, taste, smell, create. You take from a place—a recollection, a picture, an object—but you give as much. You give it a place within your conscious, you give it a chance, or you give it a label. A judgement. Will the verdict refrain you from visiting again, or will it take a place within your favourites?
Hong Kong; where I have felt excitement, disappointment ― a disarray of emotions.
Before embarking on a journey, we will inevitably have anticipations and prejudices, hopes and fears, but come arrival, do we let the place decide what sentiment we will remember the place by, or do we put forth the already formed expectations and feelings about the given place?
There are definitely external happenings, good as bad, that will stroke the canvas, but in the end, I believe we hold the brush which will colour the most. Experiences are subjective, and someone’s paradise might be the other’s entangled jungle, which I think reflects who we are, how we enter a circumstance, and how we, in the end, want to make memories.
Journeying is not about encountering bliss and butterflies. It is about facing the shabby roads and fierce rivers with the belief that no matter the outcome, a rift will leave you with another lesson learned. It is not about foreseeing the scenic beauty but about accepting the natural beauty of exploring the unknown in the present context. It is about learning to be content with being disappointed.
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