If you have been on social media in the past few years you probably don’t agree with the title of this article. People seem to be travelling all the time, and people are flying around the globe more than ever.
So why do I think people need to travel more? It came up when I was practicing therapy for students in my work. Most students (especially when either Christmas or summer deadlines come closer) are stressed about getting their diplomas, acing (or failing) that exam or how to land that job they should have next year.
Anxiety all around basically! What I found interesting in these conversations is that most people are preoccupied with the “target”, or to stay in the travel metaphor; “destination”, they’ve been chasing. It’s about getting that degree, not how to get there in any qualitative way. To get that degree, students sometimes say things like; “I’ll just throw some extra hours at it”, or “I’ll work harder than ever”, without actually thinking about what that actually behaviourally amounts to.
What steps does “working harder than ever” entail? Will you magically up that concentration you didn’t have or 8 hours a day last week for the next week? I’m not trying to be annoying when I mention these things, I’m trying to make the student see that there is a qualitative and quantitative way of looking at how you “travel” to “get there”. I would argue that focusing on, and acing all the small steps of climbing a mountain during a hike will most probably get you to that epic top eventually and not walking through the nights as well.
To use the hiking metaphor again, you’ll need to take water, food and also energy breaks (preferably at nice viewpoint spots) based on the distance of the hike that day. Just like learning in small bursts (pomodoro learning for example) will most probably sustain the concentration and give you a higher grade! You will also need to take breaks from studying, touch some grass, look at the birds, take some nutrition and go for that water break.
People go on multiple day hikes, but I would argue they are mostly pre-occupied where they are going for that day, and only at the end of the day start thinking about the day after. (provided they’ve made a total plan before starting to hike, which people should do for studying as well). Maybe if you want to ace that test, more attention should be taken on how the “route” of the day looks like.
Therefore I think people need to pay more attention to the actual “act” of travel in the broadness of life. If you open any social media (image) app, most people post “where they are”, and it is usually a destination, or a “mountain view”. People show themselves at the beach, at the top of that mountainous hike, or at dinner. They rarely show images of the toilet visit, or the boring outer city highway to get to that nature park!
But since you need to take that boring road anyway, what do people do often? Pack snacks? turn on that epic road-trip playlist to make it more fun? I know I do. Why don’t we do something similar when we need to reach a “mountain view” when studying something? Make sure the desk is empty except for necessities. You don’t drive with your phone in your hand (I hope), so put that thing away also. Maybe turn on some low fi study vibes, pack those study snacks (not too high in sugar)! And plan out where you would like to “end up” on the “travel day”. Lets hope you get there step by step!
What I also notice is a general kind of “loss” or emptiness whenever a goal is reached. When the student gets that grade, diploma or job euphoria surely exists for a while, but the inevitable “now what” will turn the corner sooner than later. Again, the “target mountain view” has become too holy. It never is a solution to all things (usually emotions you want to manage or change). Best to have the whole trip be something to look back on, and not only a highlight too much energy was invested in. Make it worth it.
So to get back to that holiday metaphor; If you go on a holiday, what is the destination anyway when you know you will eventually be returning home? Of course the holiday destination is the destination when you start traveling, but I would argue that the destination is nothing more than a goalpost to “aim” your travel on and look back to, just like a test is a goalpost to check if your “travelling” or learning in this metaphor has been done well.
In therapy I usually recommend traveling like Jack Sparrow does from “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Jack has a compass that “points to whatever the holder wants the most at that moment”. It’s probably not a good idea to lead life on that premise alone, but what is nice about compasses is that they show a direction to go to (NW? SE!). This forces you to think about where you are now, where you want to be going to, and what’s in between those two points, plus how to get there!
In short, targets, mountain views and goalposts are very important, yes. How else do you know where to go? I strongly believe that in this day and age though, they’ve become too big for your travelshoes and you need to start figuring out where to put your feet instead.
Artydetails 