Being female in your 20s is a funny thing. Just by telling someone else your age alone raises multiple questions:
“How much money do you make?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“When do you plan to get married?”
“Don’t you feel lonely without a partner and a kid?”
And so many more. You get the gist.
You are at that age where your friends are saving up to buy a house if they have not been engaged, married, or had kids already. And it seems weird to everyone else that you are not.
That’s what bothers me about today’s society. We all seem to live within a made-up time frame, and as women, we have even more pressure to live our life according to this frame. We are told to finish school by a certain age, marry by another, and have children soon after. I’ve never been one to conform to these rules. As a female entrepreneur who used to be in two different cities in one day before the global pandemic, I have witnessed and experienced almost every nook and cranny in the world to tell you that life is too short to stay in one place for your whole life.
3 Reasons I’ve Chosen to Travel Instead of Settling Down
1. The best time to see the world is now
From a young age, I have always been an avid traveler. At the age of 18, I saved up for an around-the-world trip when I turned 25 and it was an experience of a lifetime, which I described in detail in my previous blog.
The trip opened me to new horizons and showed me new opportunities that I could not have obtained being tied down to one place.
In life, there will always be commitments that ground you to one place like marriage and family. And that’s bound to come, even if you want it or not. So when you are not yet having these weights on your shoulders, take advantage of the situation and act.
There is no better time to travel than now.
2. Investing in experiences instead of things
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain
When you are young, the most valuable and probably only asset you have is time. Many people would hurriedly study, work, and make money to buy tangible assets like real estate or stocks. But the most sustainable investment you can ever make is in yourself. By choosing to see the world you are paying money to learn about new cultures, meet new people, listen to new stories, and build yourself a strong foundation and a solid knowledge base to prepare for your next stages. These will come in handy when you grow older and have to take higher positions in work and life.
Most importantly, when you are old and grey, you are not going to regret not buying these kinds of stocks. You are going to regret not spending time traveling more, talking to more people, and gaining more exclusive experience that can withstand the test of time.
3. Traveling expands your comfort zone
When you are stuck in the same old job doing the same task every day for years, you will become lazy in thoughts. You no longer find inspiration to learn more and be more.
My motto is: “When the job no longer teaches you anything new, take the leap and jump.”
With that in mind, I traveled to find new inspiration. When I reach new corners of the world, not only do I obtain new knowledge but I also learn something new about myself. When I am courageous enough to step outside of my comfort zone and reach for something bigger, I am rewarded with experience and great insights that no job can ever give me.
There is so much potential in everyone, and traveling allows you to realize yours.
Settling down will eventually come, but doing so when you are under 30 is not desirable. Make becoming rich on experience your ultimate goal in your 20s. Take the leap and travel the world, because, in the process, you will find yourself.
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