Before the world trip, I got told by a lot of people:

„You will come back as a different person!“

I always thought, I am gonna let them talk and will see for myself.

While I was on tour, from time to time I thought about if I am already „different“ and the answer was always: No!

Now I am aware of the fact, that a world trip changes oneself. If you want or not.

I don’t know If I am a different person now but latest during the two weeks in Germany I recognized specific changes about myself:

#1 I have become more easy-going

If you have sat once in a bus in Sri Lanka, which only starts driving, when all seats are taken, you are never going to complain about 5 minutes delay by the train in your home country. Or if you have to pay one Euro in Bolivia to go to the toilet, where you have to scoop water out of a barrel in order to flush, which is so dirty that you don’t want to go near it, then you don’t mind the 50 Cents for Sanifair anymore. (Note: Sanifair is a system at motorway restaurants in Germany which disinfects all toilets after each use automatically).

#2 I am taking more care of myself

When I don’t do it, no one will, if I travel alone. Therefore, I started to listen to my body more and to behave in a way which makes me feel good. It was the logical consequence to say that I really want to enter the path of a digital nomad. Because if I am on the road, especially near the sea, I just feel better. Less headache, no more typewriter´s cramp and… suddenly I can sleep! Year after year I went from one doctor to another and always said the same: „I cannot sleep.” I could neither fall asleep, nor sleep through the night, nor was I well-rested in the mornings. A vicious circle. Which I can break through when I am traveling. I don’t know how, but that actually doesn’t matter. Because it is only important that I feel better, right?

Additionally, I started to meditate daily with the App “Headspace” when I was on my trip around the world.

I don’t succeed in concentrating every day for the full 15 minutes. But it is a start, isn’t it?

#3 I care more about the environment

It sounds weird, right? No one wants to see the ecological foot print of a digital nomad and world traveler, after all. But yes, I have seen how the most beautiful spots on our earth are smashed with trash. How it is not only the tourists but more the locals, who let their land be bogged in trash, without turning a hair. Plastic waste is thrown away carelessly, wherever you are. That is sad and makes me partially really angry. Cute and amazing animals die because they get entangled in plastic or swallow it and then suffocate torturous. The human anyways destroys so much. The single person has no influence on a lot of things but it has on one thing: Waste dump. Everyone is responsible on their own a little bit.

#4 I have become more minimalistic

I admit it: I love clothes and I love shoes. I am a woman after all and on top of that (half) Italian. Not a good combination, if you have a small wardrobe. If I had to mention a number, I would say, my closet was 6m in width before my trip around the world and take aside, that everything was jam-packed on the inside, the space between the wardrobes and the ceiling was filled with shoe cartons. You have to use your space after all. I sold, gifted or threw out a good third of it already before the world trip. During the ten days after the end of my world trip and my take off to test beaches in Spain I didn’t have much time, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I sold two big boxes with clothes and a gave one bag to the clothing drive. To be continued in September… But you can already see the difference.

#5 I am less consumption-based

Before I left for my world trip I couldn’t pass by a clothing store without going in there. Honestly. It was the worst with shoes. I simply bought new shoes despite of knowing that I am probably going to wear it only once. I didn’t care. Eventually I owned around 180 pairs of shoes. I don’t know exactly. I lost the overview three years ago after I had moved in my own flat and had a share of it in my flat and another much bigger part at my parents´ place. By now, I don’t set much value on it anymore. Of course, I got my favourite shoes, but not even those I could wear when I was at home those 10 days. First of all, I didn’t even have the time for so many different pairs of shoes and secondly, it had to be always comfortable actually, when I was on the road. I didn’t even get the opportunity to unpack the High Heels. Did I miss something? Not at all!

#6 I can enjoy beautiful moments more!

And again, this sounds absurd. I have experienced so many great moments in the last months, that one could think I would not even acknowledge them anymore. But the opposite is the case. A moment with strangers, a slice of delicious bread, a hot shower… It doesn’t matter if at home or in the big, wide world… When such a moment is there, then it is something extremely special, I pause and it feels like, the world stops for a second, so I can enjoy the moment a bit longer.

#7 I don’t have to be Everybody’s Darling anymore

In the past I always tried to please everybody… even strangers! Now I want to please myself. I don’t want to have a headache anymore. I don’t want to split myself in half. I want to be happy! And I know now how that works. Those are definitely the good news. The bad news is that one or the other will not like this. But I don’t care anymore now…

Those are seven changes.

I certainly think, that I am still myself.

I think, I have grown and have become more matured as a result of the trip around the world.

But from now on it is: Looking forward and not living in the past anymore! Are you going to join me?

This blog post was translated by Alex Zuber.