Growing up, I binged countless adventure films. I spent most of my childhood in my local video rental store because my parents owned it. They were living embodiments of the quintessential immigrant story, having arrived in this country from India with a mere $100 to their name, after knowing each other for just a month. Driven by their determination to provide stability and structure for my sister and me, they just decided that they were going to make it. And they did.
Years later, I had achieved the structured and stable life my parents had envisioned and was working in private equity. Yet, I felt there was something lacking in my life. I longed for something different and wanted to embody the spirit of Indiana Jones or Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.
But it felt like I was stuck in the Matrix: going through the normal cycle of eating, sleeping, working, getting old, dying, repeating.
I didn’t want that. I wanted to do something radical and I thought, “I’m going to quit my job and I’m going to go travel.” But I don’t want to travel for just 2 weeks. I want to go travel for a year. Of course, telling my immigrant parents was tough. I had already deviated from their aspirations of becoming a doctor or engineer. Now, I was prepared to abandon my cushy job to wander aimlessly for a year. But my mind was set and I decided I was going to do it.
So I quit my job, I packed everything I owned in a backpack, put on my Lakers hat, and booked a one-way flight to South America — the starting point of my adventure. My new plan was to have no plan at all.
When I first started traveling, fear was my only companion. I was traveling around South America alone. The news told me this place was dangerous. What if something happened to me?
But, with each new encounter and the subsequent growth of my social circle, fear gradually dissipated, making room for serendipity.
In Quito, Ecuador, fate led me to a fellow traveler who had been cycling from Canada to South America for the past two years. It was the fourth time he had done such a trip so he had been biking for almost a decade.
Curiosity piqued, and I asked what he did for money. He casually replied, "Oh, I just fix bikes when I need to and continue my journey." When I asked about his aspirations of settling down, starting a family, and raising children, he responded nonchalantly, "Nah, not really. This is my reality, my normal life."
It struck me — opting out of the American dream was a possibility. No one had ever told me that. You can just decide to unsubscribe from normal life?
Gradually, I began to realize that there was no one-size-fits-all approach to life. Alternative lifestyles and realities existed beyond the confines of societal expectations. It led me to ask myself: What else is out there?
When I got to the end of my one-year trip that question still burned inside me. I thought — I can’t stop now, I have to keep going. So I kept on traveling. As I started to get further and further outside the Matrix I started to meet more people who were living these alternate lifestyles. I was fascinated and I never knew what I was going to get into.
Every new country I landed in felt so open to possibilities. It was intoxicating and I started craving more adventure and more novelty. It felt like a drug. I was riding a high, I just wanted more and more.
As my boldness grew, so too did the characters I encountered. I stayed with a hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa where we did nothing all day but hunt and hang out. As we sat around the fire one night they started telling fart jokes — I laughed and thought to myself, how funny it is that these are the same jokes that I tell with my friends back home.
What had been intended as a one-year escapade evolved into a seven-year odyssey across 50 countries.
I’m still trying to figure out this whole life thing. There are a lot of new realities I’m working on: I stopped traveling and moved back to my hometown. I’m settling down now and just got married. I’ve started to move on from a lot of the old part of my life and I’m feeling a lot more of those family responsibilities that come with age.
Sometimes I find myself thinking, “Did I just get stuck back in the Matrix? Am I okay with this? And if so, what does that mean about who I am?”
I still don’t know the answers. But, one truth has become resoundingly clear: 99% of the world is inherently good. Regardless of geographical location, humans share a common thread of kindness and generosity. A smile or a simple gesture can open up a world of opportunities.
Strangers possess the power to unveil our true selves. Through travel, I discovered that the essence of my being remained unchanged, regardless of my physical location. This realization planted a seed within me — a belief that I am never truly confined. The only Matrix that exists is the one I create for myself.
This article was written by Neel from MaidThis Franchise, a remote-local franchise opportunity for people looking to escape the rate race and reach financial freedom. Learn more here.
