Shortcuts are like winning $20 off your scratch ticket or going out to eat instead of cooking dinner at home. It's hella easy, you profit from it, and you can see life in a dimension that is quite overlooked and should be examined every once in awhile when life "gets hard." Obviously some of these shortcuts aren't so good to take (e.g. speeding life up on a cocaine binge or anything along those lines... err.. no pun..) but without em, it would take years to figure out some answers just because you never got around to experiencing them in the first place. Shortcuts.. they're the shit!
Take dancer X for example. Dancer X was fortunate to have been practicing with bboys who all specialize in incredibly difficult power moves that took them years to learn. To be able to gain those personal tips from them is in a way a shortcut compared to dancer Y who had been dancing in his bedroom for 10 years alone in his basement with no one to tell him how to fix his awful windmill he can't seem to be doing correctly. It's nice to get that extra boost once in awhile, it makes things in life go by a little faster (like all the extra practice time you get from learning from good bboys instead of trying to unlock moves on your own).
But that's not what I'm talking about here. Traveling is THE NUMBER ONE shortcut to getting good REAL fast. Mark my words, find anyone out there that is well-known for their art and hasn't done any traveling.. you won't find any!
With each trip I make to different states and cities, one thing I always walk away with is knowing where your place is in a room full of strangers who may/may not like what you're about and what you've got to offer. Even if you did the best in your hometown, you could be a total wreck in a different city--and folks will let you know it. After traveling, sometimes you realize that maybe "its not so bad back at home," sometimes it could turn out to be "a place where you need to move," or a "horrible pile of dolphin shit where 'home sweet home' rings so true." Regardless, you learn things instinctively and very quickly.
Sure, you lose that $1000 dollars going out to IBE to rep for maybe 30 seconds, but the experience of traveling, culture shock, meeting new people and languages, the food... that in itself is something that takes huge balls and becomes something that is a part of you for the rest of your life whether you know it or not! As humans our instincts are to adapt to our surroundings and have complete mastery over it. To submerge yourself in a spot where everything is unfamiliar makes you feel shaky, weak, insignificant... that is why in this sense, traveling becomes a shortcut because you want to adapt and improve. Photos, videos, books can only get us so close to actually just flying out to let's say... Brazil?
Take a moment to enjoy your short life with going somewhere far away from home. Get lost once in awhile, it's quite refreshing..!
-FB
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