fulltime life travelling have the same issue as fulltime stationary life

[lillo9546]

Settling down in one place, having a steady job, life commitments to fulfill, makes me feel like I'm "losing something".Traveling to different places, without having fixed commitments to fulfill, but rather, a short-term schedule, makes me feel like I'm "missing something".Either way, whether I've managed to create a stable routine for 'settling in one place' or 'traveling to different places', it always makes me miss one or the other.The question is why man wants/needs to travel, discover new things, but also wants/needs to settle down in one place, have a pre-established routine?

[AxelHeyst]

'Wherever you go, there you are." I don't mean that flippantly. It's the best way to say it.

Another direction is to investigate the tension between urges for security and stability and the dopaminic system which drives towards curiosity, exploration, play, etc. And see how both of these drives / urges serve a purpose. Q

Static balance is a mirage. Dynamic equilibrium is a model that has helped me make sense of stability vs travel.

[OutOfTheBlue]

Sustaining the tension between opposites can be fertile. You can open the questions philosophically and wonder why (hu)mans this and that, but you can also see what emerges as you figure this one out for yourself and see where it takes you.

I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. - Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet

[unemployable]

¿Por qué no los dos? I just finished a winter of traveling between housesits and am back at my summer home. And now that I'm back I'm still taking more local housesits, meaning still within the state but at least one will be a few hours' drive. So I get it. I couldn't wait to get back here, and now I can't wait to get out again.

My particular "summer home" arrangement came available to me over time and can easily be taken away. But it's in a location with a LOT of seasonality, so they're out there.

Traveling well is hard! All sorts of things to plan out: where to go, what to see, how much to fit in a single day, what to do if the weather doesn't cooperate or the attraction is closed or the car breaks down, where to spend the night, what's worth spending money on. Literally part of my free time is devoted to how to spend the rest of my free time. As I live now I like travel in short bursts, a few days at a time. This may be an effect of living out of the car, where as the days go on I'm increasingly grateful to look forward to a shower and a real bed to sleep in a location where I'll be assured of a good night's rest. I did it for two months during covid, though, when I had the motivation to hike a bunch of stuff that had been on my bucket list for years. The more specific my goals are the easier it goes.

[Henry]

The question is why man wants/needs to travel, discover new things,

He isn't properly cultivating his interior life which is equivalent in its complexity as the exterior world. Not to mention, the days of Columbus are over. We ran out of lands to discover a while ago. Think as a tour guide, not a tourist. Probably a ton of shit in your own backyard you are unaware of.

[unemployable]

He isn't properly cultivating his interior life which is equivalent in its complexity as the exterior world.

Eh, Illinois doesn't have 14,000 foot mountains. Just because you're not the first to do something doesn't invalidate the pursuit. Cut Man a break; you're not keeping his score.

[Henry]

He asked "why man wants/needs to travel" which is one of those universal type questions so I gave my opinion.

Now, if he asked "Why do men want to live in Illinois" I would say having lived there, I have no fucking idea.

[suomalainen]

The question is why man wants/needs to travel, discover new things, but also wants/needs to settle down in one place, have a pre-established routine?

Because you're descended from dozens and dozens of generations of ancestors who also had dual needs of adventure and safety and those are the ones that survived. There's not really a "why" to this question, it just "is". Same for asking "Why do I like pizza?" I don't know, I just do. I actually had this very same conversation with my shrink about 5 years ago and he told me that you just have to accept that you have a need for some safety/stability and a need for some adventure/discovery. It is what it means to be human. The better framing for the question is "how do I satisfy these two needs that sometimes seem contradictory?" And I think the answer to that question is going to be slightly different for everyone. The only way to find your answer is to try a bunch of different things and see what works for you. And to accept that your answer may shift over time as you age. And this where you get the whole "life is a journey" blah blah blah.

[Western Red Cedar]

Either way, whether I've managed to create a stable routine for 'settling in one place' or 'traveling to different places', it always makes me miss one or the other.The question is why man wants/needs to travel, discover new things, but also wants/needs to settle down in one place, have a pre-established routine?

"Comes a time when you're driftin'
Comes a time when you settle down"

-Neil Young

[Viktor K]

Not why but what I enjoy about travel is experiencing a new community, new conveniences, and new experiences. The novelty is nice. Community is also sometimes a pull for me to stay in a place or to return to another. Community is more of a security and also an attachment. So enjoyment and security are big pulls for either.

[lillo9546]

I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. - Rilke from Letters to a Young Poet

Experience it's ofc the right way

Think as a tour guide, not a tourist. Probably a ton of shit in your own backyard you are unaware of.

What do you mean?

[chenda]

What do you mean?

I think Henry means you don't have to travel far to find interesting things in your own back yard. Like I live less than a hour's drive from Stonehenge but it was 30 years before I actually visited.