Travel Therapy

Travel is a dream for many... But not everyone! Some fear it, dread it. What if they were right? What if it is precisely this discomfort that makes travel meaningful and healing? What if travel therapy was a reality?

After watching this video, I felt compelled to talk about it. I want to share these words of profound wisdom and great humility. I want to share this breath of fresh air and this deeply human perspective on our world that sometimes seems to be off-kilter.

Discrimination, stereotypes, fear of others, fear of change, instant gratification, overconsumption...

What if all these ills could find an answer in travel?

If you read my work regularly, you know that this theme is dear to me. Perhaps it's linked to my background in psychology and my fondness for understanding humanity and its quest for happiness... Perhaps it's also tied to my passionate love for travel and my past experiences...

When I discovered this video, something lit up inside me. That little inner light that shines when, at last, you hear something sensible. Something just. Something that resonates within us.

Yes, I deeply believe in the virtues of travel. Yes, I am intimately convinced that travel can be a therapy, a path to healing or, simply, a quest for well-being and happiness. An eternal quest towards the person we wish to become.

Travel can be all of this. But it is not necessarily so. And that is what Joseph Schovanec explains very well.

Before I share the video, a few words about its author: Josef Schovanec.

Josef immediately presents himself as autistic. He plays with this label by presenting it to the public as such: a label that society has stuck to him. A label that does not define who he is. A label that our society takes such care to slap on people's foreheads that it often forgets the person behind it, reducing them to their disability.

A philosopher and writer, Josef Schovanec advocates for the dignity of people with autism and is often called to testify about Asperger's Syndrome.

Being autistic is another way of being. It is not an illness that can be cured with pills nor entirely a disability, because autism comes with both qualities and capabilities. (...) One can win a Nobel Prize and not know how to say hello.

I think it is quite sad to be normal or not crazy.

I love the tone of humor and humility that Joseph takes when presenting himself and talking about his relationship with travel.

It had, however, started off badly (...) I wasn't destined for travel.

One is not supposed to travel when one is a person with a disability in France. One is expected to stay between four walls.

And yet, it's a beautiful lesson he teaches us in this video.

Some passages from this video struck me so strongly that I wanted to transcribe them, to anchor these words and meditate on them.

Travel is only worth it if it carries a risk at the core of being. Travel is a long learning process. One must feel a little uncomfortable before embarking. That is how one can progress.

Yes. Before a Journey with a capital J, a journey into the unknown, we are often a bit anxious. We ponder this New World we are about to discover. No matter how often I travel, I often feel a little (if not a lot) apprehensive before I take the plunge. Or moments of panic at the start of an adventure.

I remember our return to Peru last year. It was our third trip there. One would think we were well within our comfort zone... Before leaving, I eagerly awaited the sounds and flavors, the landscapes, and the colors I missed so much...

But once on site, after passing through Lima, we headed toward a new city. Barranco. A place we did not know at all, and where very few tourists venture. After a somewhat chaotic trip, we found ourselves on the sidewalk of the city, bustling with activity. I remember the weight of my bag cutting into my shoulders, the heat, and the sweat dripping down my back. And the dust. So much dust! Everything was covered with it. People were shouting around me to drown out the roar of the incessant traffic. Too many people, too much noise, too much heat. And we, stuck on that sidewalk, hungry and lost.

I had forgotten that feeling. The feeling of not belonging to a scene. Of being out of place. People were moving around us, pushing us, and we couldn't decide which way to go to find a place to stay for the night. Everything seemed hostile. Exhausted, I wondered for a moment >.

And then I remembered. I had been waiting for this moment for five years. Five years I had been waiting to go on a long trip again. And two years I had been wanting to return to Peru, a country so dear to my heart. If I wasn't here, I would be back in my flat country, comfortably sitting behind my desk, tapping away at a computer keyboard.

Suddenly, my body relaxed. I even caught myself smiling. How happy I was to be covered in sweat and dust with my bag on my back that no longer seemed so heavy! How happy I was to be surrounded by people I didn't quite understand! How happy I was to be lost! And what was once a trial became a game.

Discomfort allows one to take a step outside that comfort zone into which we easily fall asleep. Discomfort allows us to surpass ourselves, step by step. To develop new skills, to renew our inner strength. To continue the journey to become the person we wish to be.

When I heard this phrase, my heart sighed with happiness. Finally, someone who understands me!

To these nomads, I believe I have stolen a secret. I believe that human beings are, fundamentally, not made to be sedentary. Humans are not meant to live behind four walls, which can become nothing more than the walls of our tomb.

I cannot claim to know the true nature of Man. Are we made to be nomadic or sedentary? Should we return to our primal nature as hunter-gatherers and live by moving along with the seasons? Or on the contrary, should we embrace our evolution to the stage of breeder-cultivator, and be proud of our roots?

What I do know, however, is that not everyone is made to be sedentary. Or at least not at every stage of their life. For some, it seems obvious. For others, this simple statement sparks an endless debate. Some people are constantly surprised to see me go traveling, endlessly asking me why I go back and what it brings me to leave so often and especially for so long, not to mention why the return often makes me sad?

From this, I deduced that not everyone feels this call. The inner calling that pushes us to abandon our little city shoes for our sturdy hiking boots. The call that invites us to lose ourselves in areas of the globe that are unfamiliar to us.

And I respect that. Just as I expect others to respect my call. No, we are not all made to be sedentary all the time.

Humans are not meant to live in only one language. Monolingualism is a modern invention, and far from the best.

We realize how important this phrase is in Josef Schovanec's eyes when we know that he fluently speaks seven languages!

This moment in the video reminded me of a passage from Amin Maalouf's book, >. According to him, separating linguistic identity from cultural identity does not seem feasible or beneficial. Language is the pivot of cultural identity, and linguistic diversity is the pivot of all diversity.

Thus, the author advocates, in addition to mastering one's identity language, knowing at least > (as he calls English) and investing at least in a third language, >. In doing so, we strengthen linguistic diversity and move towards the path of wisdom to gain enrichment at all levels from the tremendous rise of communication.

I love this reflection on languages. Throughout my school years, I always saw languages as beautiful doors opened to other cultures and ways of living... but very difficult doors to cross, every key taking a long time to learn! I believed I was terrible at languages, and it was only in recent years that I found joy in learning one, my heartfelt language: Spanish. One of my most beautiful learnings that has allowed for so many meetings and exchanges during our various travels in Latin America...

In travel, free yourself of illusions, but above all, lift barriers. Barriers of, for example, the comfort zone, which restrict our travels to just our known universe. The barriers of the illusion of immediate satisfaction of desires and sporadic cravings. Travel is not about satisfying immediate wants. Travel is there to transform them, to transform us.

I say yes! A big yes, an enormous YES! To go towards the unknown, to leave our way of life, but also our way of thinking, to discover new ones. Undoubtedly one of the greatest riches of travel.

In travel, we learn to put things into perspective. Our life, our history, our troubles, our needs. And we understand our place in the world. A tiny speck of dust. What weight can the worries of a tiny speck of dust carry? Not much after all... We also learn to live with less. A kind of voluntary simplicity that allows us to take a step back from a society that pushes for consumption and almost impulsive satisfaction of desires.

When those barriers have been lifted, what remains is what we have in common, whether we are nomadic Baluchs from the depths of deserts or extreme western city dwellers, namely, I believe and am convinced of our shared humanity.

How I love the end of his presentation! How beautiful it is to return to the essential: at the heart of humanity. We are all different, but we are all alike as well. This is what makes our richness and our complex humanity. Traveling brings people together and allows, at least that is how I like to think of it, to bridge cultural gaps and stereotypical amalgams to discover this shared humanity among our cousins across the globe.

A connection so strong and so evident in my eyes unites travel and personal development. Strong, but fragile as well: for this link is sometimes hidden from indifferent or jaded eyes, from those who do not take the time to let travel and life surprise them. A fragile link as well, because sometimes in searching for it, we overlook it... A whole paradox.

Travel is a slow teacher. (Théodore Monod)

Yet, one must turn to it, trust it, and accept the position of the student. To accept that we do not know everything. That there is so much to learn... Accepting this position of humility toward the mysteries of our planet restores a benevolent curiosity for the world. The first step, and probably the most important of all...

For ultimately, it is not the destination that matters, but the journey.