I have never particularly had a yearning to leave Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls has always been my home and is what has always felt like home. I love everything, from the “small-town feel” it has for a “big city,” to my favorite spots found via trial and error. I love the seemingly random patches of forest in the middle of town; I love our rustic downtown which felt large growing up, yet it still pales in comparison to actual big cities such as Chicago and Seattle. My yearning to travel comes more from the desire to explore new places, rather than from the longing to leave Sioux Falls. As I continue to grow older, I have realized that the list of reasons to travel is almost endless, and it completely outweighs the reasons to not travel. I firmly believe everyone should take any opportunity offered to expand their knowledge of different cultures and to explore new places.

Most people, as they reach the withering stages in life, consider one of their biggest regrets to be neglecting the opportunities to see the world. Despite the expenses and the tedious planning involved in traveling, nobody seems to regret it. You will not regret the feeling of reaching the peak of a mountain after the strenuous task of hiking it. You will not regret the strange, exotic fruits you purchased from a street vendor in a foreign country that speaks a language that you do not know. You will not regret looking at the moon and the scattered constellations from a completely different part of the world and you will not regret spending hours in a train, as you watch the landscapes surpass you before you can even closely examine the scenery.

However, you will regret the days in which you are young, able-bodied and debtless, spent sitting at a desk as time begins to run thin. You will regret your lackluster life withering away in an office, or stocking shelves, or stressing over a task that’s miniscule in the massiveness of life. You will regret the lack of stories to tell, the missed experiences that you have only read about in books and the neglected chances to learn new skills and languages. You will regret the lost days spent forming ordinary memories of ordinary events, possessing only artifacts of an ordinary life. You will regret the lost possibilities of relationships that you could have built in places you never would have imagined.

Lastly, you will regret the abandoned chances presented to learn more about yourself. Nothing strengthens your sense of self and independence quite like being thrown into situations and places that forces you to problem solve and depend on yourself.