Maybe I'm just different

I was recently asked the question: "When am I going overseas to find myself?".

And I was hesitant to reply because my answer is very different to most other 20-somethings.

Because I don't want to work on the ski slopes in Vale or teach English in Korea or work on a yacht in the Med - I have actually never wanted to, and whene friends and cousins raged about their experiences, I really wasn't too jealous.

What's wrong with me you may be wondering - there must be someone or something holding me back.

Nope.

It's not that I don't want to go to Vale or Korea or Med - not at all - it's just that I want to experience the world differently. In small chunks. On holiday.

"Yes but then you don't get the true experience of the country/culture/people" you might argue.

That may be so but I think I'll be content with the tit bit that I do get to experience.

"But still, you need to find yourself" you may insist.

Since Std 9 I knew I wanted to be a journalist and I wanted to be a journalist in South Africa (and hopefully even be sent to different places for my job as an investigative reporter).

So I didn't need to go on a gap year, spending my parents' money while I decided what direction I wanted to go. Maybe I should have gone anyway (I no doubt missed out on some important life experiences) but I was too eager to get to varsity and start studying to be a journalist.

And then after that (another opportune gap year time) I was just too eager to get started in the real world as a journalist.

Maybe you think this makes me narrow-minded and that I'll regret these choices later in life.

But I don't think I will and I'm saving up to start ticking off my travel wish list - Thailand, Russia, Italy and South America to name a few - visits that I hope to share with Curly, friends and family.

But I didn't say all this to mom's cousin's wife who asked me that first question but left it short and sweet:

"I've found myself in Joburg, thank you very much"