When in Rio

Don’t meet your heroes they say. Then don’t go to the places you want to go, I’d add.

Do visit, just don’t wait for anything special to happen. Not because it won’t, it might, but it’s not how it works, you don’t insert a coin and wait for something to drop. This is something I’ve personally found out last year when after some time in Brazil, I’ve finally reached Rio de Janeiro.

Rio was a place I’ve promoted to the promised land in my mind. The one place I belong and which would magically solve all my problems. Can’t track exactly when and why it came to be, but it was the happy pill I’d take during every struggle of the present day. Everything was about to be fine. Just not here and not now.

And it’s tempting to project your moment of action in a comfortable distant future and keep it safe from the dangers of disappointment. It took the stubbornness of a good friend of mine to help me exhaust my excuses repertoire and hop on the plane to see this for myself.

A short morning jog around Cidade Maravilhosa, the famous city perfectly ignorant of my presence or of any of the locals and tourists in it. I stop for a moment to start wonder if it ever thought of me as often as I did of it. The scenery was perfect and the atmosphere was that of a fine music video. An there I was, witnessing its beautiful beaches, refreshing ocean breeze and jolly people having the fun of their lives but nothing really felt different inside of me. And then it came to my mind:

1. We’re not entitled to anything. Some might get lucky, some might have to play hard. You can hope for, ask for or go fight for it. But in the end, the world owes you nothing, it’s like a loot box that you pay for and hope for the best. The world owes you nothing.
2. It’s a game of expectations. Every time you’ll rejoice over something or drown in sadness is either because you met your expectations, had them exceeded or it wasn’t even close to what you imagined it would be. The world is what it is, or what you make of it. Not always what you expect it to be.
3. Time alone is not enough. If you wait for something to happen and it happens, it’s probably a coincidence. The sole power of time might work on your past and help you forget or forgive but it does nothing for your future. Work for your goals every day.
4. There are no treasure maps. Work with what you have around you. There’s no mystical reason for you to be born where you were born as there’s no reason for you not to succeed right on the spot, in your village, town or country.

Sometimes the travel experience is the realization that nothing really changes when you go back home. And that’s alright.