I feel people are beginning to shift towards a different outlook on experiencing the world. I sense this for a few reasons. Less because of social media regurgitation, with algorithms dispensing more travel-oriented content, nor the resurgence of the “no regrets” lifestyle. Instead, I have collected first-hand evidence to support my assumption through conversations with friends and random strangers and personal observations as I traverse the world.
The word “experience” is plastered everywhere amidst travel content. Not only is it mentioned in every travel itinerary and stamped all over travel directories and recommendations websites, but it’s one of the most thought-of terms when deciding and anticipating going on a trip, whether it’s near or far. “I want to do it for the experience.”, “It’s all about the experience.” or “Ugh, I wish I could go there and experience that place.” These phrases have perhaps crossed your mind when choosing where to go and what to partake in while there.
I think the travel industry, and subsequently social media creators and marketers, have capitalized on utilizing the word “experience” in more ways than we think. They have turned it into a positive term, correlating to the emotions of excitement, anticipation, abundance, adventure, exploration, etc. However, “experience” traditionally hasn’t always alluded to merely pleasureful emotions. I’d argue that experiencing life along the path of becoming more “experientially rich” incurs more negatives than positives… or at least, they are of more equal amounts.
The shift I’ve been noticing isn’t necessarily related to people wanting to collect more pleasure-filled experiences in order to add more happy memories to their memory bank; instead, it’s related to people gravitating more toward intentionally signing up for new life experiences, regardless of a guarantee that they will equate to “happy” memories.
I think the richest moments someone can experience, whether collected through travel, one’s working career, family relationships, projects, lessons, or even traumatic events, remain the most vivid in one’s memory. Sure, there’s a chance that you might not look back on a thought-of memory with solely joy or nostalgia. Still, it’s in the vividness that richness can be extracted, relayed, adequately recounted, and repurposed in one’s life in many ways.
I mean, let’s dissect the word “richness.” Richness correlates to abundance, being of quality, or having a nature that is strong and deep. Therefore, there are more things in life deserving of being described as rich outside of merely categorizing one’s financial standing. That said, memories can be remembered based on their richness. And sometimes, collecting more nuanced, colorful, textured, and complex experiences makes us the richest.
Most people have heard at some point in their lives that there’s a psychological reason why we remember the bad more vividly than the good when it comes to life experiences. This may be because our innate survival instincts are activated when we feel our stability in life is threatened. Or, it could just be a phenomenon we haven’t entirely figured out yet. I have a hunch it’s a combination of the two or maybe more. Remembering the bad comes with many underrated perks… when you think about it. It allows us to identify silver linings, recap the experience to our loved ones so they can hopefully steer clear of similar struggles, make us feel empowered that we endured and came out on the other side, and instill confidence in us so that we lean more into our instincts going forward… these are just a few examples.
I think a large portion of Gen-Z is already on this bandwagon or is at least somewhat aware of what I’m trying to outline here. We have continuously endured instability our whole lives, even in first-world America. While a lot of young people today appear to be complaining about cultural and economic issues in our country, lack of security, poor mental and physical health, failing systems and communities, and more, we sometimes forget that all of it has been helping us become stronger humans, whether we realize it or not. That is the nature of inflicted stress. When a stressor is inflicted upon us, we subconsciously adjust and adapt. Since many of us are still standing, we have not hit a breaking point yet, and for that, I am grateful.
We all know that a person’s wealth isn’t solely measured by the amount of monetary currency they have acquired. Wealth includes various currencies: physical health, competence, relationships, time, access to resources, energy, etc. And I think people often forget that all of these are measured differently.
There is a book titled Experiential Billionaire, in which the author encourages “building a life rich in experiences and dying with no regrets.” While he inspires the reader by advocating going out and doing more activities, learning new things, and experiencing the world in a very physical, experiential way, I wish he had integrated more recognition of the other realities that come with being experientially rich.
To me, being experientially rich isn’t calculated based on how many different places one’s been scuba diving, camping, or if you’ve sky-dived out of a hot air balloon in Turkey wearing a tuxedo. It isn’t how many photo-op-worthy activities you’ve crossed off your bucket list. While these types of experiences can develop us, give us incredible memories, and make for amazing, lasting photos, I think we should give more recognition to the experiences that aren’t plastered all over social media. Maybe it’s because a genuinely nuanced, vague, and complex experience is challenging to present in a format like a singular post. Most social media tends to boil things down, condense into a certain number of characters or less, or capture a singular moment frame, so it’s challenging to integrate context; context is often the only way to fully encapsulate truly authentic, nuanced life experiences.
I think Experiential Billionaire is trying to instill more zest for life in readers, which I respect and encourage. However, I believe we can do so without advocating so much of measuring life experience based on how many places you’ve traveled to, people you’ve met, restaurants you’ve tried, or photos you’ve taken. I am a fan of quality over quantity in each of these, and I actively seek out people who share the same opinion.
Recognizing that the richest experiences aren’t always the happiest memories is a bittersweet realization. Experiences like these are the ones that help us develop in more ways than one and commence a snowball effect of epiphanies even after the fact.
These are the experiences I am chasing.
Citations:
- Craft, Jordan. Photograph of the Amalfi Coast, Positano, Italy. October 2023.
- Hilton, Bridget, and Joe Huff. “Experiential Billionaire.” Experiential Billionaire, www.experientialbillionaire.com/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2024.
