As a child of immigrant parents, I have always felt this great amount of pressure to be successful. For as long as I could remember, my parents wanted me to become a doctor. This is why when I attended the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth I majored in Biology/Pre-Med. However, that desire to pursue medicine quickly vanished when I took an EMT course. Learning about science and medicine and being exposed to the practical aspect of it are two different things. By the second week of the course, I knew I wouldn’t be able to emotionally handle it.
Overwhelmed with the feeling of not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I became unsure of who I was. I felt lost. It’s a bit scary when dreams you have dreamt for so long begin to elude you—they usually leave nothing behind but empty space. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but I wasn’t sure where to start. There was an even greater sense of urgency to figure it out because I didn’t want to disappoint my parents, and I definitely didn’t want to waste a massive amount of money continuing classes until I “figured it out.”
As my “early 20s” life crisis was happening, I got diagnosed with anemia—a lack of hemoglobin counts in the blood, and as a result my body has to work harder to carry out oxygen. Soon after, I decided to take the semester off to take care of myself. I now see this diagnosis as a stroke of luck. That one semester turned into many!
I was feeling better, but here I was with plenty of time on my hands. “No school to worry about!” I said to myself, as I was worrying about school. But I learned to enjoy my free time as if it was the only way I knew how to live. When you have a lot of “me time,” you get to truly know yourself in every aspect—spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. All of which have helped me find myself again. 
For one reason or another, there was this sudden urge to depart for the unknown. It seemed like a thrilling idea because I could just go wherever and do whatever would please my soul. This was a huge change because school had always been my main priority, and suddenly it wasn’t anymore. So I took a leap of faith and bought a round trip ticket to visit Quebec City. Soon after, it was Cancun, then Puerto Rico, then Aruba, then thirty-two more cities in eight different countries.
I fell in love with traveling as if it was something I have forever longed for. The more places I visited, the more my love for traveling grew. The more people I met, the more I wanted to learn about the rest of the world.
The experience of traveling is special because it gives me knowledge and memories that I can’t get from books. The idea to travel came to me and inspired me during one of my lowest moments. I am forever thankful for all my lows, my discomfort, my unhappiness, my losses, and my failures. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have read some of the greatest life stories that are now written in the pages of my passport.