“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Lao Tzu
What’s your favorite meme, that quote, that sentiment, that thing you see posted by one of your friends on Facebook that makes you laugh out loud in the middle of Starbucks or share to a million people not even caring if you get a “Like” because you know it’s that good? Here are five of our favorite, get-off-your-cupcake-and-get-moving quotes that reach us in that same place—we laugh out loud, we sigh, we nod our heads, we get inspired, we step outside ourselves…
1. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Augustine of Hippo
Who said travel had to be a sweat? Don’t let one more day go by without considering where you would be without your favorite books of adventures lived and tales told. The greatest stories of our lives are written on the pages of our imaginations. Go on then…Imagine!
2. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” Anita Desai
If you want to know what it truly means to lose yourself, take a trip as a volunteer. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes and plant a seed in their garden. You will not only leave with a new vision of the world, you will arrive with a new vision of yourself.
3. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust
If you never leave the comfort of your own home and community, you will never know what drives the machine we call this planet. Find out who your neighbors are over there in the hills and valleys of a China day or down there in South America or the Caribbean where the sea is the color only an artist could paint. Get to know new people in their own back yard and come away with glasses that make what was plain and dull, high def.
4.“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Gustave Flaubert
If you want to lend a helping hand in places where help is scarce, consider studying abroad as a volunteer. This is a big world and your travel time could mean more than just a stamp in your passport. Make a difference starting with one step, one trip, one life.
5. “To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Anderson
You’ve got to give a little. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen what giving can do far from home and your circle of friends. Make new acquaintances, and new friends, in a world you could not have imagined if you didn’t leave your doorstep.
