SHADES OF HUMAN LIFE #6 – POLSKA WERSJA TUTAJ
Eva from Taiwan – From Fear to Freedom
Some people enter our lives in the most unexpected ways.
I met Eva in Hoi An, Vietnam.
Not on a mountain trek.
Not during a long bus ride.
Not in a hostel common room.
I met her while waiting for a massage.
We started talking casually. The usual questions travelers ask each other.
Where are you from?
How long have you been traveling?
Where are you going next?
But within minutes, the conversation felt different.
We talked about travel, life, dreams, fears, and the strange ways people cross paths around the world. It felt natural. Comfortable. Almost as if we had known each other much longer than the fifteen minutes we actually spent together.
Before we left, Eva invited me to visit her in Taipei the following year after I mentioned that Taiwan was on my travel list.
Then our paths separated.
A few days later, I found myself thinking about that conversation. There was something unusual about it. It reminded me that some connections don’t require years to feel genuine.
So I sent Eva a message and asked if she would like to share her story for Shades of Human Life.
She agreed without hesitation.
Sometimes life surprises us in the most unexpected moments.
This is Eva’s story.
Eva’s Answers (Original Version)
Below I am publishing Eva’s answers exactly as I received them.
EVA’S STORY
Here is my simple story. Sorry, I can’t write English very well, so I asked ChatGPT to help me translate 😊😅
I come from a conservative and traditional family. Growing up, I was constantly told that I was not someone special, and that all I needed was to choose a safe, stable, and ordinary life.
As a child, I was extremely shy and timid.
When I was in kindergarten, there was one birthday when my father prepared a large bag of candy for me to bring to school and share with my classmates. But when he came to pick me up after school, the bag of candy was still tightly clutched in my arms. I had not given away a single piece, simply because I was too afraid to approach others and did not know how to start a conversation.
That fearfulness stayed with me even when I was eleven years old.
That year, I transferred to a new school. My teacher asked me to stand in front of the class and introduce myself to my new classmates. Even though my father was standing outside the classroom window to support me, I was still so overwhelmed with fear that I burst into tears.
As I grew older, I remained the same quiet girl who struggled to express her true thoughts and feelings. Because of that, I was often misunderstood, and it eventually affected my relationships as well. Several of my past relationships ended for similar reasons.
Everything began to change when I turned thirty and joined an international company.
The people and working environment there were completely different from anything I had experienced before. My colleagues communicated directly and openly. Even when disagreements happened, they were able to find more efficient ways to work together through honest discussion.
Slowly, I was influenced by that environment.
Over time, I became someone who could speak up bravely, express my opinions clearly, and point out mistakes directly.
Before becoming who I am today, I had been excluded and bullied because of my quiet and timid personality. So this transformation was not simply personal growth to me — it was something that allowed me to finally feel happiness again.
Because of my fearful nature in the past, I never imagined that I could one day travel the world alone.
Even after I slowly changed, I was still deeply influenced by my family’s beliefs and continued to think that I should not do things considered “unsafe.” So although I had always dreamed of solo travel, I never truly had the courage to make it happen.
Then COVID-19 happened.
The world suddenly seemed to stop moving.
It was during that time that I realized that if I did not do something now, my life might simply pass by without direction.
So on the day Taiwan announced the end of its lockdown restrictions, I bought a ticket to the Netherlands.
That was the beginning of my solo travel journey.
I hope that ten years from now, I will still be somewhere in the world, continuing to travel without stopping.
I fell deeply in love with solo travel.
And through this process, I genuinely felt happiness for the first time.
Love is still important in my life, but it has never been important enough for me to sacrifice the life I truly want for myself.
Because now, I finally understand that one of the most precious things in life is being able to honestly live as the person you truly want to become.
Thank you for inviting me, and I wish you all the best.
Friend from Yilang Yilang, Eva.
Conlusion
When I think about Eva’s story, I don’t think about travel first.
I think about courage.
Not the courage to climb mountains or cross oceans.
The courage to become yourself.
The courage to challenge beliefs that no longer serve you.
The courage to stop living the life others expect from you and start living the life that feels true to you.
Maybe that’s why travel became so important for Eva.
It wasn’t just about discovering new countries.
It was about discovering herself.
And perhaps that is one of the greatest journeys any of us can take.
Thank you, Eva, for sharing your story.
And thank you for reminding us that it is never too late to choose our own path.
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