The Runners

Since moving to Korea, I have encountered  people who have come here and after a couple of years of living, have decided to make it their permanent home, and not return. They are called "Lifers". Some stay because they've met someone, or a person who has the same affinity for the country, or met a native, or simply enjoyed what the lifestyle had to offer as opposed to what they knew was awaiting upon their return back home. Being a "Lifer" however comes with these notions that anyone who travels for a year or more, or isn't interested in working just yet or getting married, must be running away from something. They are running away from life, escaping it. They must have been leading miserable, awful lives back home, or experienced a traumatic event that made them want to never look back. People assume that people who travel long term are running away from problems, from the inevitability of life.

My own family and friends have asked me "Are you sure you're not just running away? You running, is a legitimate concern that we are voicing". I did not understand how or why they would think that, I had worked in the corporate world, I thought I simply needed a change in scenery, something that would give me meaning, insight and perspective in any endeavor I'd choose to pursue. Then, I realized that they were right: I am running away. 

I'm running away from conventionality, from what your idea of life is. Instead, I am running towards the world, new cultures, new people, and my own definition of life and how it should be lived. I am running away from 6x6 ft cubicle, weekend errands, commuting and running - nay - sprinting toward everything this world has to offer. I want to experience as many cultures, see and hike as many mountains, go to weird festivals (the weirder, the better!) and do anything that one would never imagine existed. 

I've been told what to do and how to do it for 26 years. That year, was my epiphany. As all my friends around me were getting engaged, married, preparing for baby #1, 2, 3, or already having marital problems still in their 20's. I thought that since everyone was doing it, maybe that's the path I needed to take, and have a normal life. But, was that what I wanted? Society expects you to follow the norm but any deflection from it, is considered weird and unusual. If you want to be "normal", you follow what society expects from you - and there really isn't anything wrong with that. Happiness is relative. Being normal doesn't fit with my personality and what I want at this stage in my life.

Maybe the reason my family continuously told me I was running away (as if asking repeatedly would change my answer) was because they didn't believe I'd do it. They didn't believe I had it in me to leave my life behind and start anew. They couldn't grasp or comprehend that I was going against what is "normal". I was a misguided rebel. There must be something wrong with me.

One day, I thought to myself, I would wake up and there would be no more time for me to do the things that I've always wanted to do. I knew I had the strength and the passion to achieve it. If I didn't believe I could, then why would they?

The people who travel are not running away from life, on the contrary, they are running towards it. Head on and at full speed. Anyone who says "you're running away from the real world" has a small idea of what the world is. I am experiencing what many people wish they could do, and they could. "Your life is amazing! I want to do it!" my friends tell me, but they won't. The road less traveled was literally uncharted territory for me, but if all good things in life were easy, would it really be worth living? 

I have one life, and I will run it as I see fit.

- A Runner