Love and travel

---

There is nothing as strong, beautiful and important as the connection between humans. The connection of love, understanding, support, appreciation and admiration with people close to us is what makes up society and what makes this life worth living. The people with whom you share mutual love, respect, appreciation and admiration are those who become closest to you. Those people are the ones worth keeping with you forever. Those people are the ones with whom it is worth it to spend your time.

We do not have the gift of infinite time. On the contrary, we have a very limited amount of time with the ones we love; therefore, we should spend all the time possible with them and make it a high quality experience so as to strengthen our bond and to make sure they know we love them as much as they love us. Spend as much time with your loved ones and make it count! People always present these two concepts in a mutually exclusive relationship, but who said we cannot have both quality and quantity together?

Life is short and the older you get the faster time passes by. Make the best of it because sometime you will have to leave the ones you love whether for a short or long period of time and you will miss them. You will wish you had spent so much more time with them. So before you feel like that, take action and make good use of your time. Spend it with them so that when you leave you'll miss them even more, but you will leave knowing that your bond is stronger than ever and that you have spent enough quality time with them (if there is such a thing as enough).

I will miss my family; I will miss my girlfriend; I will miss my friends. I know that I have spent quality time with those who matter and I know that our bonds are very strong. However, I wish they were stronger, and because I believe in the power of friendship and love, I will always continue to do anything I can to make it stronger. I will not forget about you, in fact, I will think about you even more than I do now. After all, I love you. Always remember that, I know I will.

This trip is my way of moving on; of moving forward from being a student to applying my knowledge to help the world. It is a step forward in my personal development and a step closer to a climactic point in what I want my life to be like: settling down and having a family. Before I do that, I need to do something like this. Not to be crazy and get it out my system, but to discover new things and get to know the world I'm living in a little better. This trip for me is a form of liberation. It is a statement about my beliefs. I want to prove to myself that there is more to life than a day to day routine. I want to prove that humans are still free to chose their paths despite the hardships the system puts on us and on the quality of our lives, which to me means doing that which makes us happy, which makes us feel complete and at peace. This trip is my way of enjoying and appreciating the life full of opportunities and privileges that I have and a stepping stone to a stage where I will attempt to give back and give that kind of privilege to other people.

I will miss you all, but I will keep you with me. My travels and my discoveries are as much mine as they are yours, for you have all shaped my life in one way or another. You are all part of the privileges I have had and for that, I am eternally grateful. I love you and I invite you to follow me in my journey; my quest for life, freedom and meaning. After all, I owe this opportunity to all of you in some way and it would be meaningless if I cannot share it with you.


With love,

Juan Martin Clavijo Valencia

---

Comments

[Alisa Vijitkul]

Juan...this is so deep. i got goosebumps reading this. I will be living vicariously through you and your journey. best of luck with everything! and BE SAFE! -Alisa