One of the most common cliches you’ll hear at this age is that you have to travel. You have to get out of your well-established life and set out on some unimaginable journey to a far off place. Basically, you need to abandon your sense of comfort and go out to prove your individualism to others.

Although traveling is fun, and is an amazing experience I would never want to rob someone of, I have to disagree. There is almost always a cliche that will refute another. In this case, I have to say that it doesn’t matter where you are, it matters who you’re with.

Although I haven't traveled the world or left everything I’ve known and loved, I have gone without. Maybe a lonely life of nights spent with strangers works for others, but not me. I can’t imagine a life where I don’t make deep connections.

Why would anyone want to be in a constant state of transition? I understand that at our age we are supposed to experience as much as we can, but love and comfort fall into that category. Rather than experience the world alone, why don’t we try to experience the world through our loved ones?

Rather than spend thousands of dollars and hours on a trip, we should invest our energy towards bettering ourselves. Isn’t that what were after, after all? We are told to travel to “find ourselves.” I’ve spent the past 20 years with myself, and if I have to travel halfway across the world to actually “find” my sense of self than what have I been wasting my time doing? It’s okay to “find” yourself in your bathroom at 6:43 a.m. when you wake up to pee and realize your purpose.

In the end, all we’re left with is ourselves, so if traveling fills some deep void, more power to you. However, I think it’s time that we stop glorifying the uprooting of lives in the pursuit of happiness. Let happiness pursue us and let it find us in the most random of times.