GPS for the Soul

I have severe sunburns all over my body. The skin on my back suffers the worst that any inadvertent contact inflicted upon it could reduce me into a howling cat. I have minor scratches in different areas of my body from ascending upon enormous rocks, from climbing in and out of pump boats and trailing rock-strewn shorelines. The bruise on my left leg is the size of my own fist and it has caused me so much pain throughout the whole getaway to Nagarao Island. But you know what, dear reader, I don’t regret anything about the trip and in my mind the whole time I was having bittersweet moments was the line, “I cannot rest from travel, I must enjoy life to lees.”

This line is from Odyssey and this line is with me, in my heart, every single time I go places. One thing I am grateful for this year is the rounds of travels and going-to-places. Traveling is dear to me, for, I feel that when I travel, I am the truest, and simplest me - unknowest, blithe and completely in the moment. That I can be anything and anyone I want to be because I am both magnificent and insignificant at the same time. My mind wanders, my feet roams and my soul meanders into the vastness – may it be a light-pollution free starry sky or a sunrise that soften the faces of people I see, or getting lost then finding the right direction. I find the most relaxing and healing images are totally free and readily available in nature. Whether it’s a flower in bloom or a flock of birds frolicking in the wind, nature has a way of slowing me down and bringing my body, mind and spirit into the present moment.

And so the quote.

And so is the dream.

That when I’m done with school --- I will go places near and far. It can be a country on the other side of the world, or a river in another town. I know life can be demanding but I will take every opportunity to travel. I choose to travel.

Because when I’m old, I will not remember sitting on my desk, I will remember that roller-coaster, near death bus ride going to Antique. I will remember the huge, heavy waves while island hopping in Nagarao that almost turned our boat upside down – which also induced tears from my peers and a whole lot of gut-tickles for me. I will remember sliding into the zip line in Camp Alfredo, and getting very close to finishing the obstacle course. The wonderful, reckless and careless fun I had in Boracay’s night life. The first time I wore a bikini in Guisi. The mangga eating contest in Guimaras. The bonfire in Ajuy. The profound silence in Baguio’s lush forests and Bacolod’s old houses and ruins…

I’m still uncertain about what to do in this life but what I know for sure is that I’m getting there.

Just so in traveling. It’s always uncertain. But whatever comes my way or wherever my fate takes me in life, I know that I have my own GPS – my heart, nothing else.

(I’m being very romantic but these feelings are true nonetheless.)