I travelled to Amma’s ashram hoping her embrace might change something in me. But when the moment came, it felt… surprisingly ordinary. And that realisation taught me something far more valuable than I expected.

I never part with my passport—until an ashram in India asked me to leave it behind. What I expected to feel was anxiety. What I felt instead surprised me.

From solo travel to endurance challenges, so many of us choose the harder path. Not because we have to—but because something in us is drawn to it. So why do we do hard things?