Why Travel Will Not Change You

'When I grow up I'm going to travel the world.'

Perhaps your heart can sympathize with mine, it's strings tied to the wings of a plane, to a corner of an undiscovered alley cafe in a big city, midnight dancing with young blood friends, messy hair and feet that have touched the earth of so many continents.

When I was 13 years old my heart told me, that I would see things, fresh vision then what generations before me had seen. That I would be as water, changed by different tides of the oceans my toes touched, rippling through my skin down into my heart. Perhaps our hearts are kindred, of the very same 'travel bug'. Then you would know that travel, will not change you as a person. 

It may change the balance in your savings account, it may change the wear of your shoes, the size of your hips or the crisp condition of your passport. But travel will. not. change. you. Yes, looks like I have just crashed every marketing campaign you have seem, every young spirited glossy haired girl running from bus to bus, carefree lying in a mint green field sturdy backpack by her side, stylishly clad lads and lasses on mountaintops snapping memorable selfies {mac why do you try autocorrect selfies, come on now} and bright colored slogans 'LIVE NOW' 'ADVENTURE' or 'WANDERLUST'. Please don't reach for the closest bottle of wine, don't call your best friend to sob about how I have just broken your heart. I'm just here to change it. 

Change, the really truly deepening kind, the kind that makes your arms swing open to embrace all of it's petrifying, breath-taking, heart aching beauty. No, this is not a cue for a Billy Ray Cyrus song. You will not be able to buy this, it won't be stuck on the back of your boarding pass, it won't be strategically posted on instagram under #travel #young #happiness and that super styling backpack ain't going to cut it either mate. This kind of change can only happen by and through…. you. 

Travel is one of the most beautiful privileges I have had in my life, but I have wasted many opportunities for metamorphosis. I have wasted money on flight tickets, train tickets, lace up leather boots and cut off white-wash jeans in my search, because I thought once I landed, solid soled on the soil of a new continent I would suddenly have a whirlwind of adventure and change happen to my young self. I seemed to believe that adventure would find me, change me, fill me with memories I could tell my grand babies of some day, the young adventurous me.  It does not matter where you go, it does not matter the clothes on your back or the 'all inclusive' of your travel program, nor the impressive selfies or the unfortunate hair braids you got while there. The only time travel will change you, is when you agree to let it. That means, you can not buy it, you have to chase it, make it, invest in the discomfort of change hidden under all the marketing and then, LIVE. Travel will give you opportunity, over and over again it will offer you opportunity to live and create, to laugh, to wear mismatched socks, to jump off cliff edges, dance under star glazed skies, to do what you would normally never. In that very contract between yourself an travel, you, will change.

A lot of beauty has been marketed into a porcelain product, adventure is not just for a fortunate few. A child with a cardboard box is always proof of this. You can change and agree to living extraordinary wherever you are, or wherever you go. And when you agree to doing whatever will make your heart sing, live and break free from any bounding restrictions and say yes to showing up for your own life, then little spirit, you will live. 

{Images from my instagram- http://instagram.com/caraleegevers }

www.cara-leegevers.com 

 {Images from my instagram- http://instagram.com/caraleegevers }

To the Normal girl

The Normal Girl.

A confusing notion.  'Model' is a label assigned to a certain genre of women, which slots them  into another level of beauty, represented through advertising, fashion shows and editorials as the 'ideal' women, whereas a 'normal' girl is considered a cardboard box wall flower. The serial concept of perfection is something that does scare me, mostly as I see so many young girls stretch themselves to the brink of tears, self-abuse, starvation and emotional ruin trying to fit into this category. The young years of "not a worry in the world" are somewhere along the way replaced with a desperate need to be adored, set apart and to be seen as flawlessly perfect, someone worth a second glance. We have an idea that the day we have long enough hair, tanned enough skin, big enough eyes and have reached THAT goal weight… then we have made it. The life-long struggle with the motivation that you are just not good enough until then, has set off an internal struggle to do whatever it takes to get there. 

Women are not one of the most beautiful, exquisite creations ever made, they are THE most beautiful, exquisite creation EVER made. That includes YOU.  There is nothing that sets you apart  from the very fact that you are that exact creation. Not even those inner voices that whisper your imperfections in your ear and point out your flaws, can separate you from that fact.  You are perfection in whatever state you are in right now - today. 

There is nothing more beautiful than YOU. We should be high fiving each other in the streets and exclaiming, "You go, you stunning, beautiful creation, you!" 

And if another woman forgets that for a second, we should all be there in our united beauty to support them in remembering that they are indeed an intergral part of our collective perfection.  Life is sweeter when the people around you realize their incredible, undeniable worth; and when they are reminded of that through your incredible, inspiring positivity, then they are able to share it with other women, and before you know it, all women are walking tall, smiling at how pathetically awesome it is that great works of art, love songs and all of Kenny G's music has been created and inspired by the very thing we are- WOMEN! ANOTHER HIGH FIVE, GO FOR IT! 

You will live one life, it's not going to stretch itself out into oblivion, and get longer once you reach the plasticized version of perfect. You are living perfection at this very moment.  It shines out through your smile, it lives in the positivity of your voice, the beauty of your care and the perfection of your grace. Women were created to uplift, to love and to inspire, that is part of you! 

You are that very thing today, it can't be taken away from you because it was there when you were born. Nothing can smother it out, and with time, it only gets more beautiful! Trust me, my grandmother was proof of that very perfection until her last day at 90 tender years of BEAUTY.