Traveling is Like Changing Lenses

Summary

Traveling is akin to an eye exam, where each new destination acts as a lens that brings life into sharper focus, offering clarity and personal growth.

Abstract

The article draws a parallel between the process of correcting one's vision with new lenses and the act of traveling. Just as an optometrist uses different lenses to sharpen sight, visiting diverse places and experiencing new cultures can enhance one's understanding of the world and oneself. The author reflects on their time in Tokyo, contrasting it with life in a Midwestern city and later in New York City, to illustrate how travel can shift perspectives and challenge preconceived notions. The narrative emphasizes the importance of embracing new experiences, even the less pleasant ones, as a means to broaden one's worldview. The article concludes with an encouragement to travel widely and remain open to the lessons each destination offers, much like finding the perfect lens that brings life into clearer view.

Opinions

The author suggests that traveling provides an opportunity for self-reflection and learning, akin to an eye exam that improves vision.
Experiencing life in Tokyo with young children led the author to initially focus on the inconveniences, but later they recognized these challenges as part of adapting to a big city, similar to what one might experience in New York City.
The author believes that every place has its positive and negative aspects, and it's up to the individual to choose their focus and learn from the experiences.
There is an opinion that travel helps in putting things in perspective and making deeper connections about the similarities and differences observed in different environments.
The author endorses Dr. Seuss's message from "Oh' The Places You’ll Go" about the potential for personal achievement through exploration and adventure.
The author expresses a love for New York City despite its flaws, highlighting a personal philosophy of finding value in every experience.
The encouragement to travel as the world reopens is presented as a chance to gain new insights and clarity, suggesting that travel is a form of personal enrichment.

You gain more clarity with every new place you visit

If you’ve been to an eye exam, you know the routine all too well in checking your vision (visual acuity). You will be asked to read from the Snellen Chart with random letters that get progressively smaller. To determine if you need glasses, the optometrist will place several lenses in front of your eye, one at a time, and ask you when the letters in the chart become easier to read.

Traveling the world, meeting new people, seeing new places, making observations, and learning from experiences are similar to that acuity test. It allows us to make connections in life, it helps put things in perspective about our surroundings. It allows us to make deeper connections about similar and different things.

Traveling to new places gives us a chance to learn more about ourselves. Of course, the prerequisite is opening ourselves to new learning.

Let me illustrate this point. When I lived in Tokyo with a newborn and toddler, I heard myself complain and point out all the inconveniences I had to go through in a big, foreign city. The roads were narrow, some of the subway stations did not have elevators or escalators for strollers, or the fact that people weren’t forthcoming with helping.

The point of reference for me back then was moving from a Midwestern city in the United States that I was more accustomed to with the convenience of a car as the primary mode of transportation.

Several years later when I visited New York City, I had a chance to revisit some of my notions about Tokyo. I realized that I would have had some of the same issues had I moved to NYC where people relied more on public transportation. Built over a century ago, many subway stations do not have elevators or escalators. I saw parents carry their strollers up and down stairs — a deja vu moment for me.

The problem was not Tokyo. The problem was my inexperience living in a big city. As beautiful as the city shows itself in movies and television shows, the streets of Manhattan are dirty. Today, I either smell piss or pot at every street corner. The cleanliness is pale in comparison to the streets of Tokyo or Singapore. I love NYC, don’t get me wrong.

The point I am trying to make is that every place has its pros and cons, its good, and its ugly. We can choose to get lost complaining in the bad and the ugly or we can use it as an opportunity to add to our experiences to expand on our senses and our worldviews.

If you haven’t read Dr. Seuss's book, Oh’ The Places You’ll Go, you should. I am not sure whether kids get the message of the book— “KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!” But I do as an adult.

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So….get on your way!

Now that travel is opening up around the globe, I encourage you to make your travel plans and be open to experiences. Every new place that I visit is like a new lens that enhances my vision and brings more clarity to my thoughts, my actions, and my life.

So, where are you going to next and why?