Existential Psychology

Searching As A Rationalization For Running Away From Commitment

By  | 

If we were to isolate the common psychological thread amongst most long-term travelers it’s that they consciously fancy themselves as searchers and see their searching attitude as a virtue where unconsciously they’re running away from any and all commitment and know on some level that their running away attitude is a vice.

Whether you’re traveling the world or hanging out at home the same psychology applies. There’s a fine line between searching and running away, and you don’t want to fall on the wrong side of that line or you’ll just keep drifting forever, rationalizing your drifting on the grounds that you still haven’t found what you’re looking for.

Searching is the prerequisite to committing to the path that’s right for you but at some point you’ve got to take the plunge, you’ve got to decide that for better or for worse a way of being, a career path, a partner, a hobby, a place, suits you and you’re going to settle in and go for it. Otherwise your life will be one long aimless drift, motivated not by trying to find the best conditions for your growth and self-actualization but by avoiding anything that winnows down your options. And when you reach the end of the road you’ll back and suddenly realize that actually you were never on a road, you were just floating in space.