We have officially been out for over two months now (I think we crossed that line sometime last week) and it seems to us that there are times when you just hit, well, a slump. These aren't utterly depressing moments; it's not as though we don't enjoy (and appreciate incredibly) what we are doing or that we think "We made a mistake coming here, let's go be back home." Rather it's more that everything isn't quite as vivid as we think it should be, as though we aren't enjoying ourselves as much as we think we could or should, as if there is some mythic ideal of how we should be feeling. These thoughts aren't new. I've had them back home and on this trip before, but they have recently been a little stronger than they have since we left New York.
I think the slump crept in when we had done alot of the same thing, staying in not so great accommodation, in not so great cities and towns and just feeling that something was lacking. It was hitting the hardest right before we got to Kuala Lumpur where we had spent about three weeks on islands, in small towns, or in transit and were just feeling wiped out. The forests and beaches were fine but they started to feel old, and I was beginning to long for a change. Since hanging out here for a few days, I think we are almost out of the good ol' slump. In Kuala Lumpur (a city I couldn't locate before this trip and the most exotic sounding place on our trip... in my opinion), we are catching up on some much needed Internet work and enjoying some western luxuries (recently we ate at a Chili's and then went to a movie- with chinese AND malay subtitles!) and I think that is pushing us out of this strange mood.
I'm not entirely sure why I'm posting this; it's not as though it's worthy of worrying about (that means you, Mom) but these low points are simply phases of life, including life traveling. I guess in some ways I find it ironic that I am on this amazing trip, this marvelous experience, and there are still moments when I'm bored as much as back home or when all I really want to do is get a cup of coffee and fall asleep reading a book hoping that tomorrow will come a little sooner. However, I also think it shows an important aspect of traveling, that you can't go to another part of the world to run away from yourself (a common goal of many backpackers, "finding themselves" and all that)... I am who I am, wherever I am. Consequently, I have the same problems, doubts, joys, and excitements that I have at home. They are just now about different things. If I was down before, I'll be down again; if I was happy before, I'll be happy again. Life is what we make of it, and it's my persepective that that gives it meaning.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Two Month Slump:The difference Chili's and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" can make
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6 comments:
This is a very profound post, very much so to me, mainly because I have not been a very big traveler in my life. It also makes me feel a little better because I'm already jealous of all your traveling, but at least I know that not every single minute is great and wonderful and ridiculously better than whatever I'm doing.
Love you guys!
There are good days and bad days. What's funny is that on bad days I have ways of coping (normally involving coffee, books, and sleeping) but none of those coping mechanisms really work when you are stuck in Kuala Lumpur... so you come up with new ones!
I have a question. What's it been like writing these posts? Have they been reinvigorating, helping you to cope, or simply reflective? Have they been hard or easy to write?
Also, I agree with Morgan about the profundity.
I won't speak for Meg but for me I find these posts reinvorgarting and a way to remember and give meaning to this journey. Though it can be a rather taxing task at times, espeically when we are somwhere beatutiful and sitting inside at a computer is quite low on the list of interests. And that doesn't include the amount of time we have spent writing, editing, and uploading it just gets overwheleming. But then I like what the final product and I like (and have always liked) writing as a means of remeberance and creating meaning to events. It often functions as my journals have over the years...
I, too, like being able to recap what we've done and think through it in a way by writing it all out for friends and family. I find it more annoynig than josh, though. I hate spending a few hours on teh internet and never feeling like we're quite caught up when there is an amazing new place outside the doors of the internet cafe. Part of it is the time it takes to upload photos at some of these places and that just gets frustrating. But I am always pleased with the result!
It's also a bit frustrating because more happens than we write about and we have even more interesting, funny, or nice photos to show, but we have to limit it somehow...
I think it's usually easy to write. More difficult to edit/pare down.
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