After all the recent events lately, I can’t help but think that in spite of everything, I am even more excited to travel the world. This is the best time. This is the time when we defy the barriers they are trying to set on us. This is the time we take the world back.

If you were going to die tomorrow, would you be okay with your last days being spent at home on the couch living in fear? Or would you want your last day to be doing something memorable, something out of your comfort zone? Would you rather be still, or keep moving on with your life? Would you rather be fearful for your life and miss out on living, or be bold and brave and live it to the fullest?

Maybe you’re someone who wants to live in a bubble. But if you were that person, you wouldn’t have wanted to travel in the first place. If you’re a traveler, and you’re scared, you’re hesitant now after all the chaos in the world, after Paris, and Belgium, and the like, then I have one thing to say to you: GO.

Pack your bag. Slide into your window seat. Press your face against the glass as you watch the sun go down over the ocean. Arrive to the sunrise in a new land. Embrace the fact that this is your life. You are meant to live it. You aren’t meant to be stuck at home on the couch with Netflix streaming all night while you binge eat Thin Mints (however tasty that may be). You were meant for adventure. You were meant to explore. You were meant to learn and respect the world around you.

You were not meant to live this way. You were not meant to hole up in your room, scared of the unknown that lies ahead.

The truth is, bad things are always going to happen. It’s a fact of life. But what we do with our time is valuable. It means so much more. We must continue to travel in spite of the evil powers that want to take our beautiful world away from us. We must stand tall, our backpacks strapped to our shoulders, passport in hand. We must give them a reason to be scared, not the other way around. Let us join together and continue on. Let us learn more about the world. Let us accept one another and give a stranger a kind hand.

Don’t let them take your wanderlust from you.

Don’t let them win.