Girl Goes on an Enlightening Solo Travel Trip and Now has Widened Perspective… I am Girl. But Hear Me Out Still :)

Spending such a long time in the region, living in Morocco for 6 weeks then spending another 2 weeks crossing down into the countries of Mauritania, Senegal, and The Gambia, I nonetheless acclimated to the West African way- absolutely loving and embracing the stark change of culture.

I was not, however, prepared for this re-acclimation phase back into the States, and it was undoubtedly a strange time to be returning to the homeland ...

Apart from the obvious social and political changes that had occurred during my time away, nothing was suddenly crazy new or wildly foreign to me. BUT it was as if I returned with a new heightened awareness of some of the (sad? strange?) realities of American life.

If you’ve spent an extended period outside the Global North, maybe you can attest to this strange, unnerved feeling of returning as well. Perception is shifted heavily when you’re exposed to two extremes.

For example, landing in LAX and making my way towards baggage claim, I was overcome with this pervasive, shocking awareness of the magnitude of privilege and over-consumption that is so ostensibly plaguing this country.

Everywhere I looked in this airport, the heightened awareness of sheer excess seeped out from all corners- the designer shops, the flashy advertisements, the $8 bottles of water (how is that actually legal?), the newest and greatest tech gadgets on display, all roaring in your face and begging to be purchased in this place dedicated to transit, but weirdly showcasing itself as an arena for luxury shopping and suffocating materialism.

Airports are a crazy place to truly analyze in themselves. Especially LAX. The hustle and bustle is overwhelming.

Returning was a reacquaintance to The Land of Solo Endeavors, of minding your own business, dutifully rushing around (somehow we’re always in a hurry), remaining enclosed in your own bubble, often with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones on acting as armor, eyes averting other eyes, treading carefully to avoid popping into anyone else’s bubble at risk of upsetting or disrupting their habitual flow.

The endless mission of achieving, of gathering accolades and recognition, piling them into the bubble, smiling as it expands and swells and outgrows all of the other bubbles in an unwitting submission to the addiction of growth.

But is it not all a ruse? A trap we fall into that drives us closer to the product and to the money, but farther away from each other and to the full embrace of life’s fun and simple gifts.

As I tried to take it all in and make my way through LAX, my mind flashbacked to safety, to my time spent in Africa, where conversations flowed freely, people’s spirits soared high, and days were refreshingly devoid of the abundances and excesses we thoughtlessly rely on here.

I couldn't help but think... the over-consumption... the greed… the race to the top.. the country that I call home that I was now returning to… It all seemed a little grotesque now, to be honest. Grotesquely enabling, you could say, and grotesquely (undoubtedly) wreaking havoc on our green luscious planet.

Of course these were just my initial reactions and a direct result of my post-travel come down and shock factor train of consciousness invoking my extreme criticisms.

I still thought though, hey, everyone around this airport are all just people, everyone I met traveling are all just people, all of us are all just little human beings, none of us are able to change the arbitrary predicament of which country we are born into. I think for that fact alone, we all deserve some lenience.

But traveling, especially in West Africa for the past 2 months, exposed me to a different rhythm of life, one that I saw as more deeply intertwined with the natural gifts of the world and one that we Westerners often stray so far from, one that was deeply inspiring and often refreshing to see. That is, the gifts of community, nature, and simplicity.

And while I will inevitably slip back into the flow of the system as I go on navigating my life and beginning my career, I don't want to forget what I learned from these other cultures or fall back into the thoughtless disconnect so easily. It’s such a privilege to travel, to have access to educational resources, to live in a country where we have so many “things” at our disposal, holding us up on a constant platform of success.

But this inherent privilege should not blind us from continuous learning and openness to the rest of the world. We should use it as a tool to widen our perspectives, open up our minds, enhance our empathy and find inspiration in other cultures and lifestyles.

I want to hold onto the memories as reminders and celebrations of alternate lifestyles, I want the inspiration that I feel now to persist and to be shared with others.

Here is what I will continue to think about and carry with me as an homage to my time in Africa, testaments to a stronger sense of community, a life aligning with nature, and simplifying our busy, high-speed lives…..

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