Friends’ reactions to my latest article “Life is not a goal” were intense and varied (in my Facebook group)*. Some people support my love of travel, others doubt that this is the right way to live, and believe that a settled life - building a house, raising children - is a good life. I don’t see any contradictions in these two desires. In Soviet times, the second way of life was considered correct and the best fate was to work at one factory for 50 years and retire as a big boss. The idealization of one, single way of life is always beneficial to the ruling classes, but it turns into slavery for those “who did not have enough place in the elite.” But fortunately there have always been and are those who dare to live in their own way, not to participate in social games and not to be equal to anyone. My father worked as a chief engineer at a petroleum institute, but instead of buying carpets, cars and dachas, he bought us tickets to the sea, to Moscow, Leningrad... And while the whole city went to the dacha for the summer, we went to Georgia, Tuapse, Ukraine... And instead of the same dacha and car, we saw different cities, cultures and people. The modern world offers many more opportunities for a variety of people. Now there is no longer any need to overcome the opinions of the majority, because it no longer exists - minorities have become majorities. The only thing you need to overcome now is yourself. Your concepts and beliefs. And dare to live your own way! And you don’t even need to invent anything. Everything in the world has already been invented. In the era of romanticism and enlightenment, intellectuals and creative people spent a lot of time at “creative dachas” somewhere in Italy, the Crimea, the Alps... Or they traveled to the East. We know this well from the notes of Chekhov, Gogol, Gauguin, Van Gogh... But even before them there were wanderers whose main luggage consisted of wisdom and a small knapsack on their shoulder. There have always been and are nomadic tribes. But “modern culture” (a separate big question: What is this?) considers them uncivilized. As he considers downshifters uncivilized. But there is no need to follow someone else’s opinion - now you can easily find a sufficient number of those who think like me. It is curious that when Agatha Christie published her travel writings, no one condemned her for wandering the world instead of sitting in her home somewhere in Devon. Doesn't that mean you have to become a celebrity to get your lifestyle accepted? There is one more point. Existential philosophy says that there is not one single correct meaning of life in the world, nor is there one true meaning of the life of a particular person. A person chooses meanings himself; moreover, they can and should change. This is mental health - the ability to choose, the courage to live in your own way, to find those who are in tune with you, the ability to live with uncertainty and anxiety (which are no less and no more in travel than in settled life) and live as if this day last. --* my fb group: FB_LINK Do you need help? call: 8 913 85 661 85. whatsapp: +7 913 823 4608. website: psycholgonline.com