A new kind of adventure

by Saran Kamperman (Netherlands)

I didn't expect to find Greece

My father always said:’ We don’t do holidays; we are going on adventures. You should come home more tired, than you were when we left. You know you really travelled if you stepped out of your comfort zone’. But one of his other quotes was: ‘You can only come back from playing outside when you hurt yourself, otherwise you didn’t play hard enough’, so I am not sure if I should always follow his advice. For me traveling means searching for adventure and it’s a tool to get to know myself. As a kid I always loved our adventures around the world, and I felt welcome everywhere I came. When I started growing older my mental health deteriorated and I didn’t feel welcome anywhere. Feeling scared all the time and having no energy at all. From adventures every year to staying at home for five years, I totally changed as a person. My mother planned a surprise holiday to Greece, so we could spend some time together, in a place where I wouldn’t feel the pressure of life all the time. We went to Agia Galini on Crete. The first 3 days I was too tired to speak or even stay awake. My mother painted on the beach and I slept through the day. The fourth day my energy slowly came back and we had a walk on the beach. During diner we started talking about how I felt and that I really wanted to change. I wanted to feel alive again, like how I felt when I was younger. Being in Greece and still feeling blue was definitely not the way it was supposed to be. At that moment, I realized I wanted to help people like me. I wanted to write how I felt, so other people can see they aren’t alone. We bought a notebook and a pen, and I started writing everything I wanted to share. Most stories were painful, so I cried a lot. It was the first step of accepting what had happened and a new start for the future. Finally, after several years the chaos in my head was organized, for a few days. What my father told me might be true, but you don’t always have to come back even more tired. Sometimes you are allowed to take a break and relax totally! Since that holiday I spent most of my free time writing. I practised with poems, short stories and began writing a book. All forms of writing interest me, but I paused writing my book because the confrontation was too big for now. When the memories will not be so close as they are now, I will continue writing it. At the moment poems just keep coming in my head, and I guess they will always pop up. I also travelled around the world again. My biggest scare was travelling alone, so that was what I did. I went to America all by myself, to visit my uncle and his family. This trip was amazing, and I want to travel alone more often! I found peace and happiness, what I hadn’t found in years. Crete refuelled my passion for travelling and is the place where my new hobby started. Writing gave me a new destination in life!