There’s a certain comfort in leading an ordinary life, slipping into the cozy habits of everyday routines and donning the familiar masks of personal and professional identities.
But no matter how snug the habitual may feel, how secure the career, house, or marriage might appear, now and again life’s Big Questions (e.g. Who am I? What is my purpose?) simmer to the surface, casting a nagging net of uneasiness over my ordinary contentment.
So, with the hope of better understanding life’s deeper meanings, I open my heart and travel beyond my comfort zone in search of answers, different ways of thinking and universal truths.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. After 15 years as an independent content creator for travel and tourism, she has been enjoying extended stays abroad for the past decade, the inspiration behind her travel memoir, "I Could Live Here" (November 2023)The movie had faded to rolling credits. I’d barely noticed. My mind was still processing the words - the world, has changed me.
Beyond her fame, I knew little of the life of Amelia Earhart, the film’s subject. But her story, as depicted in the biographical picture, AMELIA, had ignited a longing so visceral that my heart suddenly felt heavy, tears springing to my eyes.
These emotional tsunamis always strike when I least expect it, plunging me unsuspectingly into life’s Big Questions: Why, for example, are some people beckoned to a life of exploration while others are happiest at home?
After fifteen months of living abroad in Central and South America, my husband and I are stateside for an interim and aware that we, too, have been changed by our experiences and the people we have met along the way.
Ellen Barone is an American writer and wanderer. After 15 years as an independent content creator for travel and tourism, she has been enjoying extended stays abroad for the past decade, the inspiration behind her travel memoir, "I Could Live Here" (November 2023)