04/24/25
Where to begin? Reflecting and documenting this journey in a manner that does it any justice will require much more than a single session of writing. It must be dissected, from my journals, memory, and camera roll. A simple flip through my journal entries has already shown me just how much I’ve already forgotten. And just how much I’ve truly gone through and learned first hand over these past 290 days.
It is crazy that it is over. It feels as though it lasted both a lifetime and a blink of an eye. I have so much to unpack here, but I will save the specifics for another note. I am feeling very grateful and very proud. Grateful that this journey took place. That the universe guided my path. That each person I interacted with crossed my path at the moments that they did. And that everything that has happened in these past 10 months has now led me to this point, on this plane, flying back to the US to once again see my friends and family, who I have missed dearly and who’s love I have never ceased to feel despite the distance and time away. I am grateful for everyone in my life, new and old. And I recognize just how lucky I am to be able to travel for nearly a year, almost entirely on my own, and still feel so closely connected to so many people on the other side of the world. This is a powerful thing that plays a huge role in the courage that I possess to take on these sorts of challenges.
I am proud of what I have accomplished. Very proud. I have done what few are able to do. Not just in traveling around the globe, but in discovering a passion, setting a goal, making a plan, executing that plan, and following through until the end. I have struggled at times during the trip. There were numerous moments where I was uncertain of my path, overwhelmed with decisions, taken by feelings of loneliness or isolation or a lack of confidence. Looking in from the outside, I imagine it seems as though its all rainbows and unicorns. Only I will ever know what I actually experienced. The struggles that I have endured for much of my life never magically went away when I set out for this adventure. There were times when I felt a severe lack of confidence, or a crippling feeling of social anxiety. And there were also times when I felt more confident in myself than I ever had before. I will likely be fighting these battles with my mind for years to come.
Only now I am equipped with a much larger arsenal of personal experiences that show me who I am capable of being, who I really desire to be, and what it takes for me to become that person.
-Ryan
P.S. A much longer trip report will be coming out in the future!
