Anya Mullen – Opinions Editor

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like every time they open Instagram, someone new is posting about their trip to Bali, or Greece, or Thailand, or Spain. I’m sitting at my computer doing my homework and then going to my work shift, wondering how everyone has all this money and time to be flying all over the world. As far as I know, many of the people who I see travelling are university students just like me. 

Photo courtesy of Luna Zickfeld

But the thing I always forget is that Instagram is a highlight reel of people’s lives, and I am no different. When I was lucky enough to travel for a few months during the gap year I took before starting at Bishop’s, I posted probably close to once a week on Instagram, and I am by no means an influencer. We have grown up in a generation where sharing things on social media is very common and has a big influence on us, whether we would like to admit it or not. Just as we know that we only post our life highlights on Instagram, we must remind ourselves that everyone else is doing the same. People could be posting travel photos from 3 months ago, and I would have no idea that they didn’t just take them yesterday. So, really, it’s not like everyone is travelling all the time, they are just posting about it when they are on the road, and maybe not so much at other points in their lives. When I’m at school I certainly have less insta-worthy content in my camera roll than if I was on vacation. It’s more like pictures of homework assignments and blurry photos from the Lion at 2am. 

It’s also worth considering everyone’s different priorities and points of view on life. For me, when I travel, I prefer to have a lot of time, so in my mind a quick trip to Amsterdam or Barcelona for reading week seems like quite a commitment considering the price of flights, but for others, that is a fun and spontaneous opportunity. As someone who commits to a lot of things, I don’t think I would even be free to go to Barcelona for reading week! But some other friends of mine intentionally keep those free windows of time wide open so that they can travel, because that is their main priority. I’m trying to rewire my brain to be open to hopping on more flights spontaneously, but it’s hard to let go of thinking about the cost and the risk of what could go wrong. What I really need to start doing is letting go of my fears and stop comparing myself to everyone who I see on social media.

Who cares where everyone is going and what they’re doing? What matters are the plans I can make, and where I want to go. Nobody is holding me back but me. It’s not a checklist or a ticking clock. I’ll get everywhere I want to go eventually. Time to start hunting for cheap flights!