𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 ; 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝.

I am 19 and I might have discovered the passion of exploring late but I did anyway. Exploring--not travelling to Bali and clicking sunset pictures kind, but the more affordable middle class kind. The one where I explore my own city and my own carefully crafted world.

As a daughter who was caged in the house for years because of tight finances I grew up being scared of the outside world. But now that the college and school life has taught me that being scared takes you nowhere-- I broke out of the comfort of the shackles.

I don't believe exploring is all about travelling three states away and meeting new people, sometimes(or for some people) it's about determining your own interests, hobbies and most importantly identity.

For me, I realised the hobby of collecting cans while having canned coffee with my best friends, having one Monster can already stand lonely on my shelf I thought-

"Yeah we are collecting cans now"

Or when I stayed up late reading crime thrillers on sites and finding loopholes catching the criminal before even the detective figured out.

Or when I decided to become my mother's crisis manager and "discovered" her boss's number in her phone.

Or even though being tight on finances I went out of my way to try different ramen flavours knowing they might disappoint my taste buds.

Or when I started observing the world more than I usually do, capturing the sky in my 144p phone camera and the food my bestie spoils me with snd sharing snaps of my very old college campus because I find it "vintage looking" or even my locality for the same reason.

Or discovering the raw creativity in myself while styling the outfits for different occasions, borrowing, sharing and just buying some new stuff to complement it and trying new shades of lipstick because I realised they suit my skin tone more than what I usually wore(yeah I abandoned the old one).

For me exploring is healing and maturing because learning about yourself while simultaneously the world too changes your perspective about everything in a whole different-- and a far more optimistic-- way.

And on that note, exploring might be the only thing that keeps me sane in this circus of life besides writing :).

𖥔 ݁ ˖𓂃.☘︎ ݁˖⋆˚𖥔

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𖥔 ݁˖⋆ So, what does exploring mean to you?

𖥔 ݁˖⋆ Thank you for interacting :)