Battling Wanderlust

In moments when I am stricken ferociously with the itch to move, the curdling desire to travel across the vast lands of earth, bitten by the anxiety for adventure, I turn towards the masterful expertise of Seneca. The Roman politician turned Stoic philosopher offers endless suggestions, maxims, and daily practices of mind and body for those who choose to work towards pursuing the good life. He affirms

We should live with the conviction: "I wasn't born for one particular corner: the whole world's my home country". If the truth of that were clear to you, you would not be surprised that the diversity of new surroundings for which, out of weariness of the old, you are constantly heading fails to do you any good. Whichever had came first would have satisfied you if you had believed you were home in all. As it is, instead of traveling you are rambling and drifting, exchanging one place for another when the thing you are looking for, the good life, is available everywhere.

Meditating upon such a maxim evokes a sun stroked revelation. The spirit clears its throat, my veins breathe in the wild concrete, and I find myself briefly at home in this strange world.