This week marks exactly one year since I started this blog and wow, what a year! I seriously can’t grasp how quickly time flies. It has been one amazing adventure after another with some amazing people and I’m incredibly grateful for all of it. I’ve always loved travel and had a direction in life, but I find that this past year has taken me to more places than I’ve been before and taught me more than all the years before it put together.

There’s something about getting on a plane to a new place that just doesn’t compare to anything else. No matter how much you research or plan, you will always arrive under-prepared. But if you arrive with an open mind, really immerse yourself in the local culture and live in the moment, you gain humility, compassion and a new perspective — all far more valuable than any material wealth.

Over the past year I learned how small of a space I actually occupy on this planet. On one hand that may be a very depressing thought but on the other, how liberating it is to know that nothing is so big or bad that it’s worth your stress and worry! Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. You meet all these strangers around the world from completely different cultures and walks of life, but in the end, they are just like you. Their worries, goals and dreams are just as real and valid as yours. And so I travel. It’s to remind myself that I will always have something to learn, a new adventure to experience and countless stories to share.

It’s clear to me that I’ve developed an addiction to drinking this wild air and I hope that this travel high will inspire everyone around me the way it keeps inspiring me everyday.