National Liberation day (May 5th in NL) leads to contemplation, as a fact. My freedom ends at the border of somebody else’s. That’s why I like to explore the freedom within myself. Drastically putting my own principles and obstacles aside to see what lies behind. Nobody knows what good on inside my head, and that probably is a good thing. That is my freedom. I constantly search for my own boundaries and try to move them.

Travelling and freedom are often mentioned as one. We experience a ‘being free’ in travelling, which apparently can’t be found at home. While one should think that your home should be a place where you can be free, right? And while I feel comfortable and free at home, I too set out on a journey, looking for more freedom. Why?

Apart from being a place where you can be yourself, home is also the place where things are the same (which makes it safe to be yourself!); the same surroundings, the same routines, the same people around you. Safe, but boring.

Travelling is voluntarily expose yourself to unknown terrain, unknown people and unknown habits. It forces you to change your habits and get out of your comfort zone to see what lies ahead. Explore and push boundaries, great ingredients for growth and inspiration. I love an intense life, yet I only find that intensity at my own borders. I want to expand my territory, bit by bit. A uncomfortable but very rewarding exercise. The space it creates inwards, I use to create outwards.

I want to return home and see my home with new eyes. A continuous (re)discovery of that what is in essence the same. That is why I go travelling…. I guess…