Not a Good Traveler

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.

– Tao De Ching

I freaking suck. Sprinting across the airport at 11 at night, listening to speeches about my utter incompetence, running up a goddamn escalator with my suitcase, no one could say that I’m a traveler who is not intent upon arriving. As for fixed plans, I keep telling myself that at some specific point in the uncertain future, I will learn this language, I will be confident and comfortable and wholeheartedly invested in myself. I will. I will. I will…

I freaking suck at being a “good traveler.” Honestly, at this point, I’m done with good. Maybe I’m a shitty traveler, but I make plans and I get excited. I expect my plans to be burned as an offering to the universe of contradiction, but I make them anyway. And for right now, that’s okay. Because I am intent upon arriving to my goals, I know that they will happen.

A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving.

A traveler has planned and failed and is intent on trying again.

Maybe someday I will be a good traveler. But for right now, I freaking suck. And that’s okay.