I’ve always found this quote to be so curious and inspiring. I remember when I first moved back to the city for college. I hadn’t lived there since I was a child, we moved to the suburbs by the time I started 1st grade. I grew up always going to the city with my parents or my sister. I honestly hated the suburbs, everyone and everything was boring to me. I loved the urban vibes of a massive city like Chicago. I remember being in high school and convincing my friends from time to time to take the train to the city. They always thought I was nuts for making them do that. I guess I always wanted to be a part of something bigger, something more interesting. You see I was always very shy growing up it wasn’t until after high school that I really blossomed. My sister took me on a 2 month back packing trip to Europe. It forever changed how I saw the world and myself. After coming back from such an amazing trip the suburbs seemed even more mundane to me.
So after a couple of years of the community college/suburb life I eventually decided to enroll at The University of Illinois at Chicago. I wanted to live in the city, I wanted to be a “Chicagoan”. I grew up in the burbs I wasn’t allowed to call myself a “Chicagoan”. But when someone tells me I can’t don’t something I fight for it even more. I eventually did earn that title. In fact Chicago not only became my home, I explored and learned it so well I knew it better than friends who were actually born and raised there!
I recall my first few weeks on campus I would pick a street and walk down it as far as I could. I’d use my photographic memory to learn where things were. I would walk back to the other side of the street until I got back where I started. I did this back and forth trek for months. Every free weekend or evening, a different street, a more expanded map in my head. I was afraid of getting lost of course. (Sidenote: this was well before I had a smart phone and google maps handy) But I conquered my fear of getting lost by wandering and exploring via a “safe track”. I continued to use this tactic years later when traveling, especially when traveling alone. At one point within all those safe wanderings I thought, “Is it even really possible to get lost?” The answer is technically, no. You see I realized that even though a place might seem unfamiliar, it’s probably not far from some place you recognize. Or if it really is somewhere you don’t know, I always remind myself I could always ask someone for directions, call someone to guide me, or take the time to look at a map (if I had one handy) and eventually I’d find my way. There’s always a way to guide yourself back to where you need to go or where you started.
In fact, sometimes you actually need to literally go back to where you started and start all over again! For example, once I had a long overlay in Berlin, Germany. I wanted to go to this museum and well … ich spreche ein bisschen deutsch … meaning I speak a little German. I definitely didn’t speak enough German to be parading and exploring around the city with a connecting flight to catch in 6.5 hours. But I did it anyways because hey, I hadn’t been back to Berlin in like 12/13 years! Well in a nutshell, I got on the wrong bus in shitty German asked where a certain train stop was, and driver yelled in shitty English “Wrong bus!”. So I got off and I stood on a street I had NEVER been on before. I knew more or less I had been in that area once in life, like ages ago. It was a Sunday so most things were closed. I was about to freak out and reminded myself “You know you can’t really get lost right?” My phone did have international usage, so no phone-a-friend. Like I said it was a Sunday so most things were closed. So then decided the only thing left to do … go back where I started! I waited for the bus now going back in the opposite direction heading towards to the airport and also grateful I bought the full day pass! I got back to the airport and asked someone new for directions and began my adventure again. I was on a new bus and I asked the driver if he stopped on Kurfürstenstrasse (yeah say that 3 times fast). He nodded yes, but turns out that street was the equivilent to saying my bus stop was on Michigan Ave (if you’re from Chicago or lived there you’ll know what I mean), Michigan Ave and what??! So well into my 2nd bus excursion I think well damn maybe I am lost?? But as fate would have it, help comes to those who ask for it (yes I’m quoting Dumbledore big Harry Potter fan … don’t judge). A man and his granddaughter get on the bus and guess what?! They were speaking Spanish my second native tongue! I asked him if he knew where my stop was and where I could catch my transfer train. He was so pleased I too spoke Spanish and he so graciously told me where to get off. It was in fact where he was getting too, he was taking his granddaughter to the zoo. Blessed be that man and his sweet granddaughter, they guided me to my train station and bide me adieu. I made it to the museum, it was fantastic and yes I made it back to my connecting flight in time!
Moral of my lengthy story is, I realized no matter how much you wander in life, and even if the path is unfamiliar, you can’t ever truly get lost. Currently in life I am wandering on a new path, some things are already learned and become familiar. But truth is I have no real idea where I am or where I’m going. It’s interesting, exciting, and terrifying not know if you’ve lost your way. But I just take a moment and remind myself … not all that wander are lost.
