14 Jun 2016 | 2 mins

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.”
– Ibn Battuta

As a fresh out of University graduate who majored in Anthropology and Art History, a question I get asked a lot is “So, what are you actually going to do with that degree?” My answer is, I don’t know yet. Like many young graduates who are faced with the daunting prospect of diving straight into the career driven routine of adult life, I want to embrace this opportunity to just take a step back and enjoy being young and free. I want to be more present in this fast paced world and explore what the world has to offer.

No one is better at being present than a child. When you watch children play, they are not worried about the future, they are not worried about what people think of them and they are not holding onto anything from the past. As adults, we need to return to these feelings of childlike wonder and curiosity and enjoy all the beautiful sights and sounds around us.

From a very early age, we are asked by the adults in our lives, “What do you want to be when you grow up”? From this point on we lose some of that real presence that we had as a child because we are forced to think about the future. We are taught with some urgency that we must become something. Even when we don’t know what that something is and if we will ever know. For young adults, this thought can be overwhelming. As we get older we are conditioned to find a passion, find a purpose, achieve, achieve, achieve because this is apparently how success is defined. Yes, it is definitely good to have goals, but don’t forget to relax, breathe, take a step back and have a look around you. I have so many interests that I want to delve into and I still don’t know exactly what I want to be when I ‘grow up’, but for now that is perfectly OK.

At this point in my life, I am lucky enough to travel and lean back into that childhood curiosity. I am leaving on this adventure with an open mind and no expectations except the truth that I will learn more about myself, the world and the people in it. To an extent, I get to embody that child who wanders into a forest with no clear sense of time or direction, who picks up a stick to use it as a sword or a wand and who builds a fairy castle made out of stones.

When you travel you make the most of what you have around you. 

When you travel you experience that awe, wonder and happiness when you discover something new and you fully appreciate where you are at that moment in time. 

When you travel you want to take in all the new sights, the sounds and that energy and excitement of not knowing what you will see when you turn that corner. 

You take each moment as it comes. 

You become aware and to be aware is to be present. 

We can lose this sense of presence when we are continually bombarded with questions about who we want to be and what we are going to do to achieve this. I believe that there is nothing more rewarding than travelling because in those moments of wonder you can shed those expectations and just absorb all the sensations around you. You can be fully present.

By Tamara Bose

Tamara is currently travelling around Africa before heading to Europe to study French. She continues to work on her hobbies of writing, blogging and photography to inspire others to get out there and travel. You can read more of Tamara’s amazing travel stories on her blog, Tamara Jade Travels. Check it out!