Redefining the "Traveler"

I've always thought that the "traveling" types were the people who were born a different breed. They're the ones who were blessed with the care-free, adventurous gene that the rest of us missed out on when we were born. They're the people in pictures you see cliff-jumping or standing on the edge of mountain tops without a care in the world. They have that natural "one with the earth" glow that comes from their fearless attitude.
They're the dreamers, the inventors, the outside-of-the-box thinkers that the rest of us have accepted we could never be.

I am surrounded by 90 other students who have chosen to fly away from home to live in a different part of the world. Some of us have studied for a semester and others are studying for an entire year. I've met backpackers and vacationers of all ages who have made the decision to break free from their daily lives to live a different one for a while. 

I think of historical "go-getters" like Christopher Columbus and wonder if I could ever actually sail for that long, knowing full well that I could die of a thousand different things from Malaria to a violent storm, in hopes to find land. I'm not half as brave as that. 


I wonder, am I courageous enough to be labeled an "adventurer", a "traveler"?
I have fears, doubts, and anxieties.
This trip has shown me a lot of areas of my life that I could really stand to fix up a bit.


But, after 3 1/2 months here, I think I stumbled my way into a realization: we've got the wrong definition of "Traveler". Sure, there are some adventurers who's personalities line up perfectly with our made-up connotative definition of the word. But nowhere in the dictionary does it say "free spirit and type-C personality necessary". As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever met a traveler without some fear or doubt.

I believe that it is the conquering of those fears and doubts that actually make someone a traveler.  It's the ability to say, "Hell yea I'm scared to death of this airplane ride, but that view from up there is going to be amazing." or "I'm a bit anxious about this, but I'm going to do it anyway." I think the adventurer is the one who sees the problem but chooses to focus on the outcome.

It's when we refuse to grapple our fears that keep us trapped in comfortable monotony and routine--the fear of the unknown, the fear of failure, anxiety from money, phobias. The adventurer has those same fears but ventures anyway. We're the ones who don't allow ourselves to be this way.

So, from one Traveler to another (and in the wise words of Ralph Waldo Emerson), "may you always do what you are afraid to do."