HAWMC – Choose An Image From FlickR Explore To Write About..

I absolutely LOVE traveling!

Okay, given the skeptical looks just about anyone who knows me will be giving at this point, I should add a few caveats to that. I do not love traveling in the hardcore sense; ie. buying cheap flights that take 78 hours and 9 layovers to get you to your destination. I do not love lugging rucksacks full of exploded sunscreen, ‘bush camping’ (worlds worst name), or any situation where you are expected to drink whiskey without access to running water or a well lit toilet area. I do however love traveling any even slightly more pampered sense. I love arriving at an exciting new locations, checking into a busy hostels (yes, really), eating Pad Thai from street vendors and drinking sangria at 3 in the afternoon. I even like getting cabs at airports, camping in situations where there are toilets, being laughed at for being so pale and generally basking in the awesomeness of being somewhere fresh. I love that last bit especially.

One of my favorite quotes ever is Andy Warhol’s ‘The World Fascinates Me’. There is something so inspiring and optimistic about those words. I love the knowledge that whenever life or work or family gets too much – or too claustrophobic – there is a whole world out there to be explored. I’ve never met anyone who’s sense of failure, dismay or unhappiness wasn’t improved by a dramatic change of scene. I know there are issues like money, ties and visas but people of all situations find a way to make these work, and I really think the world is so much more fluid than we imagine.

When I first decided I wanted to study health and nutrition I felt pretty shy about telling anybody. Health advisors, and especially nutritionists, have a reputation amongst my peers as boring or killjoys. Many consider them to be people channeling either their own issues, or their own controlling natures, into a self righteous careers … and I hated the idea of anyone thinking that about me. I’m 100% sure I have my own issues that take shape in the type of career I want (don’t we all?!), but really I want to be a nutrition advisor because I feel it’s a way to express how much I enjoy life.

I feel like travel is a perfect example of this. Travel is so much more practically and financially possible than many of us give it credit for … but one thing that will stop you is poor health. Both physical poor health and the whole host of mental health frailties that can come from poor nutrition. I want to feel strong and healthy so that I can feel motivated to visit new places and (although I know we don’t have as much control of these things as we might like to think) I hope that making healthier choice will allow me to do more things when I’m older too. Deciding I want to become a health practitioner hasn’t made me a less adventurous person.. I think it’s made me more of one.

These are the reasons why (in this weird and roundabout way) looking at pictures like the one above, make me certain I’ve chosen the right career to aim for.

The Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge is hosted by WEGO Health. I will be writing a post a day for all 30 days. I hope you’ll join me in writing every day about health. All you have to do to join is sign up here