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Why I Chose the Path Less Traveled
Finding Fulfillment by Defying Expectations
In the age of wanderlust and social media, the allure of constant exploration, world travel, and collecting experiences is hard to resist. Everywhere we look, there’s an implicit message that happiness is found on the road, in new places, and through new adventures. For years, I was fully on board with this idea. I spent five years living abroad, eagerly embracing the world’s excitement, exposing my children to different cultures, and expanding our family’s horizons in ways I thought were essential.
But somewhere along the way, the excitement began to fade. What started as an adventure slowly began to feel like displacement. The yearning for home, for a sense of stability and belonging, grew stronger, especially when I saw how it affected my children. Ultimately, I made the decision to come home, to live with less travel, less constant change, and more emphasis on connection, family, and roots.
While this choice might seem countercultural in today’s fast-paced world, I found that defying the expectations placed upon me — both by society and by myself — brought a deeper sense of fulfillment than I could have ever anticipated.
