I lived in Russia for 6 months in 1992, shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A few things I particular remember, from living out there at this distinct time in history, are hyper-inflation, limited goods and queues.
I was studying Russian in a city called Voronezh, although I kept skiving to travel with my roommate to places like Siberia, the Black Sea and the Baltic States. Travel when I was growing up was mainly to Butlins at the English seaside. So, this travel within Russia and the former Soviet Union was a big adventure into the unknown. This was amplified by being pre-internet, pre-mobile phone and the fact that we didn’t even have a guidebook.
In this context of living and travelling out there at that time, the world I was seeing around me was, of course, enormously different to what I knew. I would say it blew me open. And it created an appetite to keep opening, which has stayed with me.
We can run so much conditioning – in our thinking and behaviour. When we are in new territory, or having new experiences, I believe it shakes us out of our patterns, patterns that had often been running unconsciously. We develop new perspectives and see through new eyes. New possibilities open up. And we discover new parts of ourselves. I think this is all key to personal growth.
It’s worth stepping into new territory, to aid us in freshness, awareness, insight, development and expansion. It doesn’t need to be a big back-packing trip to some far corner of the world, just going somewhere new, doing something different, spending time with people you don’t normally spend time with – such things can be a positive catalytic force.
What new territory might you step into? What gold may be found there? What might expansive activities cayalyse in you?
The picture above is from a trip to Moscow during my time living out in Russia.