Travel the World, Question Everything, and Discover the Truth

Have you ever been told one thing by another only to find the truth to be the exact opposite? I traveled to Casablanca, Morocco and I feel compelled to write this post, sharing with you some of my insights and realizations.

“Don’t Go!”

Many friends and people I know discouraged me from traveling to Morocco. They said that it’s “unsafe, dangerous, and not a good place to travel to. Don’t go!”

I know they meant well. And by all means, I’m all for being safe, cautious, and fully aware at all times.

But wow! The truth of the matter turned out to be the exact opposite.

The Truth

The truth is the locals of Morocco are incredibly friendly. It’s a generally safe place to be and as long as you use your common sense you’ll be fine. There was a guy who motioned me to come into his little shop and I didn’t oblige. Little things like that you need to always be aware of and exercise your best judgment. But the people turned out to be great and it was by and large very safe.

The food is delicious, the weather is great, and all around the vibes I’m getting from the locals are positive. This is definitely a place I can see myself coming back to. And not just to Casablanca, but also to Marrakesh, Fez, Rabat, and Essaouira. Here’s my conclusion:

Question everything. Don’t take someone else’s word for something. Discover the truth for yourself.

Continue to respect others. Always treat people with love and kindness even when they question your decision to do something new. But by all means, make sure to form your own opinions and discover the truth for yourself. Never take someone else’s word for something. It’s not necessarily their fault, but they have been misinformed themselves.

Adventurous Kate says, “also keep in mind that people may have been to a certain place, but not recently. If they haven’t been there in the last five years, you may not want to listen to what they’re telling you about the place you’re traveling to.”

This happened to me with Morocco. Two of my friends started freaking out when I told them I’m traveling here, but they came here nearly a decade ago.

What You Focus on Expands

Yes, there are bad things that happen in the world. But there are also tens of thousands of good deeds happening daily that television news stations fail to mention.

This discussion ties directly into the business world as well because CEOs, business owners, and managers make their decisions all the time based on what other people are telling them without finding out and investigating the truth for themselves.

What you focus on expands so when a bad event happens, the media magnifies it and then fills millions of people in the world with fear. I refuse to live my life afraid to travel somewhere because of something bad that happened.

By all means, the world should be informed of the tragedies that happen. I hear of these awful occurrences and I cry and feel badly about them as much as anyone else. I’m saying to choose to not stay in a negative place and instead actively explore the truth of the world for yourself instead of relying on news reports and other people’s opinions.

We need to hear about these awful occurrences in the world so that we can mourn the loss of those wonderful human beings as well as begin to enact positive change. But negative events must not be the only thing we focus on, nor do they have to prevent us from fearlessly living our lives and traveling the world.

My friend Chris Salem, who I featured in my book Reach Your Mountaintop: 10 Keys to Finding the Hidden Opportunity in Your Setbacks, Flipping What You’ve Heard on Its Head, and Achieving Legendary Goals, says, “Everything in life is a choice. You can choose to live in a place of peace and power.”

Trust Yourself and Form Your Own Opinions

Trust yourself. Listen to your intuition. If you don’t want to do something, then don’t do it. If you feel forced to do something, back away from it. Just make sure the decisions are coming from what YOU know and not what someone else is telling you.

Morocco is one of my favorite countries in the world. I’m safer here than when I was going to graduate school at Johns Hopkins in downtown Baltimore!

See you at The Mountaintop.

Jeff Davis is an award-winning author, speaker, consultant, and world traveler. He has lived abroad (and is currently living abroad now) and wrote a book about his travels.