These are the two most important things that I've learned to live by since I've begun traveling. No matter where you are, or what you're trying to do, it will always work out.

So maybe you're trying to get a Chinese visa in Vietnam, and it's an early Friday morning and raining and you walk to the embassy 3 times in one day and it's closed 10 minutes before you get there and they're not open until Wednesday. It bothers you, and then it bothers you that it bothers you because you know it's entirely out of your control and you can't do a damn thing to change it. And then a gentleman on a motorbike offers to drive you to where you're going for free because it's raining, and you realize people are genuinely good and everything will always work out. Because you know what? I'm currently in China. I got my visa. It worked out. Maybe not as quick or easy as I might have hoped for, but in the end, my goal was to get to China, and that is what I did.

Wasting energy that could be spent being happy and enjoying the present on things that you cannot change, and are out of your control, are incredibly draining. Draining of your time, emotions, and happiness. It drains you from being present enough to enjoy the fact that you're alive and able to make these choices for yourself, and live the life you want.

So maybe the 2.5 hour bus ride to the Great Wall of China took you 6 hours. But you got there. You got to spend 3.5 hours climbing around (or falling down for some of us😏) the Great Wall of China for crying out loud. Who cares how long it took to get there because you were there! How fortunate and lucky am I! We cannot change the level of traffic or number of people driving in China. What we could have changed was perhaps not visiting Beijing during one of their main holidays. But we didn't. We went there and we got to experience the freaking Great Wall of China.

I have been traveling for 3 months now, and I often have to remind myself of where I am and what I am doing. I often take a step back and look at my life and just smile. Smile because I'm finally living MY life each and every day. Smiling because I am genuinely happy. I'm not living my life confined to what I'm "supposed" to be doing, but what I actually want to be doing. I am living my absolute dream. And I wouldn't change any of the steps that I've taken to get here. I wouldn't change a thing from my past, because I wouldn't be who I am today. And I truly love myself. I love where I've come and who I've become. I have a lot of work to do and I will always be actively working to improve myself, but I'm happy. And in the end, isn't happiness the goal?

“Sometimes it’s a little better to travel than to arrive."-Robert Pirsig