Mental Health, AI, and Traveling in the Mid-2020s
So if you have been on my page any time in the past year, you will notice that I’ve been working on that France writeup for almost 8 months. I’m sure you haven’t because no one reads this page, but I want to through some thoughts out there about it.
At the end of that trip, in Marseille, I had a bit of a breakdown. There were a lot of issues. Work stuff, personal stuff, and trip stuff. I love the travel, but sometimes I put too much pressure on myself to make a trip perfect. And this isn’t good for me, and it really isn’t good for anyone.
So when I got home, I got help. I’ve been in therapy and on medications for about six months, and yet it still took a lot for me to revisit that trip and get through it. But luckily, this blog is not important to anyone but myself, so I could take my time. And I’m happy that I did it. I am trying to decide what I want to do with a few other trips I made this year, and while I’m sure about the Belize trip getting a writeup, I may do something different for a couple other trips. Maybe I’ll update existing pages (I think I’ll add Strasbourg and Lausanne to the Geneva page.)
But since this blog is something I do for fun, one thing I’ll never do is use AI for this. I could have an LLM write this stuff for me, but what would be the point of that? If I’m not enjoying this, I can just stop. I’d rather do that since this blog is mine and is my voice. So other than using spell-check, AI has no place on my blog.
And of course, there’s the other issue going on. My mental health issues are tying into the way the world is falling apart around us. While I live in a relatively safe place, I’m worried for those around me who are at risk and I’m worried about what the direction of our country means for everyone. In the very specific realm of travel, being an American traveling in the mid-2020s is weird. People ask you political questions in ways that are uncomfortable. There are major travel delays that have no good reason. And every time I come back into the US I worry that I’ll be flagged. I don’t talk about politics much online, but I go to protests and I donate to causes that are doing what I think are good things. And I know I’m on the wrong side of the current administration.
But travel is something I love because I love the people I meet when I travel. People are generally pretty wonderful. I’ve had very few issues when I travel. And the more I meet people from all over, the more I see how much no one deserves to be treated as less than due to where they are from or what cultural background they have. People are people and I think travel shows that in such a visceral way.
I want to keep traveling and I want to keep doing this blog. I may just do a blog post with a few pictures about the Vietnam trip (which was amazing.) I know that I am super privileged with my ability to travel in the way I do. I know that I’m lucky to have been able to go as many places as I have and have had generally really good experiences. But I am scared with where our country is going. I’m worried about where our world is going. I want kindness and peace and I feel powerless and at a loss. And I feel selfish for worrying about my petty travel woes or my general stress. But I hope this blog, written by a person who really does love the world and the people in it, brings someone a smile. Take care of yourself and remember, we can make a better world for tomorrow. Together.
