It’s been a little over a year since I packed my things to live in Dumaguete. And I wanted to take this moment look back at the time since. What’s changed, what’s stayed the same, what’s become clear.
In my younger years, backpacking through Asia for weeks / months at a time schooled me on the ways of different cultures in this world, and on my own inclinations and limitations as a solo female traveler. Later on, travel would turn into longer relocations — my Masters in the UK, and most recently, my remote working from Dumaguete.
These periods of travel and relocating on my own gave me a lot of time to “sit with myself”, and feel a certain aloneness that leads one to question a lot of values, beliefs and assumptions one may hold about one’s self, others, and the world.
And maybe you’re like me, and you recognize the transformative potential of travel. But maybe travel for you is shorter bursts of a few days or a week at a time.
Or maybe you’re not as gung-ho about travel or relocation…and I’m with you there too. Maybe you’re like me, in the belief that you don’t need to go far for transformation. An Eat, Pray, Love type of scenario isn’t necessarily accessible for a lot of people.
Maybe you’re like me, in that you’d like to see something change your current situation, with or without physically relocating yourself, and are looking for how.
Allow me to share my thoughts and experience through a poem.
Layag
by Jen Horn
Layag
(Tagalog/Cebuano)
v. to sail away, to travel on a boat, to rove. (maglayag, lumayag)
n. a piece of cloth spread to the wind to make a ship move through the water (layag)
Sa paglayag May pinatutunguhan At may iniiwan There is what we are heading towards And what we are leaving behind At times it becomes clear that the journey will lead you back home At times the water feels still as a lake like glass on the surface with the occasional bird calls and the light rustling of leaves and breath slowing with the breeze However clear to the eye its bottom is murky and its depth unknown At times the water feels wild as rapids foam frenzy on the surface with the roaring, crashing against the rocks and heart rate racing with the water And in that moment What matters has clarity We steer our sails as best we can to explore and to discover At the mercy of the elements with the winds of synchronicity That in moving away from one place We are moving closer to me And when we come back it is not our surroundings that have changed it is we
[Pag-muni-munihan] Reflect on this:
How does this resonate with you? What reflection does it bring to the surface?
What does it make you feel when you imagine yourself as the sailor / traveler?
What does it make you feel when you think of friends or loved ones who’ve left you behind?