How travel helps us meet ourselves, with a quote from Civil Rights Activist and Author James Baldwin.
Hello friends, Happy Wednesday! It is now officially midweek! Welcome to the Exploration Hour. I host this space weekday mornings where we dive into quotes, ideas, moments together to connect and explore things that matter together and what they mean to us. This space is a collaborative one, which means, if you have thoughts, ideas, or things to add or share with all of us here, you are welcome to. This is called the exploration Hour because I give this space an hour to explore. Sometimes we go under time, sometimes we go over time, but this hour is ours to connect. If that sounds like a space you want to be a part of, give me a follow and we will explore this hour together.
This week we've been diving into the power of travel. We talked on Monday how travel enriches us, and yesterday we talked about how travel can transform us. These were such beautiful discussions with wonderful people sharing such amazing stories and experiences, and I am so excited to continue this into today as well! If you missed those talks, they are underneath the talk tab in my profile so feel free to dive in there and listen to any of my past tlaks there too!
So today, today we're going to talk about finding yourself, belonging and what it means to travel into this realm of self-discovery
Today, I chose a quote on travel from none other than James Baldwin. James Baldwin is one of my favorite writers of all time, and I found his quote not only fitting for today's show, but wanted to highlight him since today is also Juneteenth and pride month, and his voice, his work, his writing was always such.a powerful voice not only for the Black community but also for for LGBTQ+ and marginalized people everywhere. If you haven't read any James Baldwin yet, I encourage to just start, his words are absolutely beautiful and intoxicating and heartbreaking and so so real. James Baldwin traveled quite a bit in his life, often as an extension of finding and understanding himself and his place is a very divided world, and he wrote about these experiences extensively, honestly, and beautifully. Here is a quote of his from his travels to Europe:
“I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.” – James Baldwin
Love this quote so much because it shows us the power of meeting ourselves wherever we go. We think we travel to see other things, experience other sides of cultures, traditions, and worlds, and that is true, but what travel also does to us is that it shows us our collective humanity and how we fit into places that we were not formed by. James Baldwin let go of comfort for his travels and even went on expeditions across the seas and leaned into discomfort, the unknown, and let that guide him for his writings, particularly his book titled Across Oceans and Islands, where his recounts his experiences learning how to navigate across the oceans and what it meant for this New York born Civil Rights activist. We cannot judge others experiences or lives if we aren't first willing to experience this, and James Baldwin not only spoke of this, but lived it too. In his constant search of belonging, he found he met himself on these journeys too.
Sometimes we need to let go of the comfortable, the cubicle, the commute, the zoom meetings, the packed lunches, the eggs at the grocery store, the robo-callers, and even the local football game on Friday, and let it all go to find these parts of ourselves-- the deeper, intimate, parts of ourselves that really truly belong to us. When we travel ,we scrape away the familiar, and replace the mundane with adventure, curiosity, and openness. Such beautiful, brilliant things have blossomed out of these things and have opened the door for connection, belonging, innovations, and happiness.
So I wanted to open this now to you.
What ways has travel changed you?
What things have you discovered about you while on a trip, or hope to discover about yourself?
There are places that belong to us because we are open to experiencing them. We bring ourselves to them, and they reveal not what they are, but who WE are.
I'm Coach Kate. Thank you all for listening today, for being here, for exploring with your minds, and traveling with me here even in this small intimate space we hold together. If you liked what you heard today, give me a follow. I host this space weekdays and I am so happy to share it all with you, hear your stories, collaborate and learn. I will be back tomorrow for another episode of our Exploration Hour. See you then.
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