Why Getting Lost Might Be the Best Way to Find Yourself

“And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again - to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” - Pico Iyer

I just spent the last two weeks in Costa Rica, one of my favorite places in the world.

I love exploring small beach towns, eating the freshest fish & tropical fruit, and finding delightful treasures.

By treasures, I don’t mean souvenirs. I mean the little things you stumble across that blow your mind.

Here’s an example: Walk down any street in Costa Rica and the locals will inevitably greet you with the phrase “pura vida” which means “pure life” or “simple life.” It’s a key part of Costa Rican culture and something everyone fully embraces as a way of life.

In the United States, most people have their heads buried in their smartphones. They are preoccupied with digital distractions and succumbing to cheap dopamine hits.

But in Costa Rica, it’s clear that life is meant to be embraced and enjoyed in the moment - not something to take for granted and let slip away as we defer to our digital tethers.

Sitting unplugged on the beach, it dawned on me how much the hustle culture has permeated every aspect of life in the United States. I’ve been a willing participant in that culture: I don’t remember the last time I walked into a coffee shop and didn’t pull out my phone to do a little work.

That epiphany reminded me: Allowing myself to get lost in a foreign land is one of the best ways to get perspective on my own life.

We travel “initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves,” as Pico Iyer writes.

The breath of new air jolts you out of your entrenched ways and opens you up to new ways of seeing and being.

Your world becomes topsy-turvy. Your sense of proper and improper shifts. You learn to laugh at things that would anger you at home. The majority becomes the minority. Surrounded by the echoes of a language you don’t understand, you return to infancy when your native tongue was foreign to you. You become a young fool again.

Our beliefs, perspectives, and habits are tied to our environment. Change your environment, and it becomes easier to recognize what’s no longer serving you. This is why it’s so much easier to change or break habits when traveling. The new environment doesn’t have the same associations as home so it’s much easier to adopt a new way of being - at least temporarily.

So, if you’re in a rut and feeling stuck, it might be time to get lost in a foreign land.

When you return home, your home won’t have changed.

But you will have.

Live bravely,

Michael

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