This trip has been full of unexpected life lessons.

I didn’t come here with that many expectations, at least I didn’t think I did. But, as fun as it’s been here, it hasn’t been what I was expecting. I thought I could escape to England, fly across the pond and leave all my worries and troubles behind me. I thought that I could start fresh here, leave all my baggage in exchange for a few suitcases. I thought that all of my troubles were based on my soil, where I was rooted. I didn’t even think to consider that my true roots were in the other flowers around me. That it’s the people, not necessarily the places, in life that make it worth living.

I watched the film Into the Wild tonight, and it just hit me. The whole thing. Every quote and his entire experience I could just relate to. Not that I’m physically in the wild right now, but culturally, it’s a jungle here. Every little nuance, from bus routes to ordering food to communicating with scousers – it all adds up to create one foreign land that I find myself residing in without the comfort of a familiar embrace to ground me and tell me that everything will be okay, that I’m understood and cared for.

It’s not that I’m homesick. I don’t desire to be back in the States with the debt crisis and all that. I don’t want to leave this brilliantly interesting city that I’ve come to love. But if home is truly where the heart is, then I’m homesick for each of my family members and friends that my heart has taken residence in over the many years.

I’ve always valued people. More than anything, I want to spend my life meeting new people and positively impacting as many lives as possible simply by reaching out to someone who hasn’t been reached, befriending the lonely, hugging someone who has forgotten the sensation of human contact.

So how did I underestimate the value of having friends and family close? Why was I so obsessed with the journey that I left people behind?

But I mustn’t kick myself. This adventure was designed to help me grow, to make me stronger so that I could return as a better version of myself, ready and willing to encourage anyone who comes into my life. Able to remind them that struggle and uncertainty are good. And that you sometimes have to be uprooted in order to firmly plant yourself.

I’ll be glad to go back home. But, for now, the goal must remain: I will continue to make the most of this experience while I am so blessed to have it. I will learn as much as I can in these next few weeks so I can return feeling satisfied. At least for now.

Cheers. x