Healing is now a common term that many Indonesian use to describe “traveling” instead of its original essence. So, instead of using the term, “traveling” they use the term “healing”. Every instagram reels about traveling, posts about places to visit are always filled with that term, “healing”. Even the Indonesian has a saying, “ don’t work too much, let’s go healing”, roughly translated along that way. And often when they are doing “healing” it’s always involving nature and commonly Bali.

I have no idea why this only started recently but the first I discovered this was during the days of Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert back in 2010. Though the book received mixed reviews, I loved it. At some point in life, the book resonates with me, a distressed teenager wanting to find something new and “heal” myself from the trauma and unhappiness. The thing is, The character in that book wasn’t a teenager but a 34 years old career woman who finds dissatisfaction in her marriage and decided to vagabond. I think that was the turning point where finding yourself in Bali was a thing and something romantic. In the end, you’ll end up finding your soulmate on the island, someone from exotic countries and a wealthy one. At least, that’s how the book portrayed it to be but that’s not always the case.

Anyhow, healing is now something that has a different meaning straying away from its original purpose. Even some famous Indonesian motivators commented on how youngsters these days are always healing and lack mental fortitude. I think what they mean by healing is just a temporary refreshing. It’s not wrong either but healing applies to something with greater magnitude that I think include, recent breakup, separation, layoffs, trauma and also an attempt to get out of depression. Even my mom, who didn't know this term before, is inserting the noun in every conversation we have. I get that, she needs the actual healing cause of the recent separation. But when put into a context where you feel just tired of work and want to go to another place, that’s recreational, not healing. Another marker is that when you are “healing”, you learn something new and focus on interacting with the surrounding, not just for the gram or the social approval.

One thing that I notice when I was healing was that I didn’t want anyone know what I am doing. I was completely immersed in the environment and wanting to discover something new that includes places, people and experience. And once I am done with all that, I begin reflecting on what I did wrong in the past and how the trauma has shaped me. And no, I didn’t go to fancy places, no fancy cafes but rather really immersing myself with the locals and seeing life from different perspective. Now, once again I am in Bali, much more in a secure mental state and not in a state of healing, I began to notice that some people who come here are actually “healing” and are looking for something new away from their hustle and bustle life wherever they come from. That’s fine by me and I sincerely wish the best for them but one thing I can say is that that healing doesn’t always have to be expensive nor does it have to involve traveling.

Another thing I notice is generational difference on how people see healing in Indonesia. Gen-Z like me and millennials around Indonesia, are the pioneer of this self-healing culture through traveling. But older generation aren’t so much into healing because they weren’t really exposed to mental health problems and its awareness all over social media . To many of them, it all can be fixed just by becoming more religious instead of spiritual. But in recent years, the younger generation is also taking science into account even if they come from a religious background. For me, it’s a good thing that there is a balance between the two.