The Currency of the Century
By Evi Goossens — travel storyteller & creative freelancer
Lake Tekapo, New Zealand — November 2025
Reading time: 5 minutes
Must and may. Two words with very different meanings. Apparently, I use the word must too often when talking to myself, and I must replace it with may or get to. It’s not a strange idea, but it is a difficult challenge.
Let me tackle one “must” at a time. Starting with: I must write a travel article every day during my travels. After all, if you practice something every day, you naturally get better at it. They say it takes around 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. That works out to roughly three hours a day for ten years, or six hours a day for five years.
Considering the ridiculous number of hobbies I have, that means I’m going to be busy for what feels like an eternity. Hence, the exercise: writing every day. Practicing, improving, and forcing myself to write even when I don’t think it’s good enough. All in an attempt to quiet my perfectionism and simply keep creating.
But this only stays enjoyable if I actually have something to say. If things happen during the day. What if, even in faraway New Zealand, I have an ordinary day? You know the kind: making breakfast for yourself, working all day, going for a walk during lunch, working some more, doing groceries, cooking dinner, exercising, and going to sleep. Some routines never leave you, even when you're traveling.
While my fellow backpackers are out “enjoying their holiday,” I find myself sitting on a wooden chair with a laptop on my lap in the hostel kitchen, battling the reality that I need structure too. I’m not complaining—I chose this. Right now, the work I want to do gives me more peace of mind than the relaxation most travelers seek in, well... traveling.
Let’s just say that breaking patterns isn’t easy for anyone. Not even for this writer. Whether it’s letting go of the things you think you have to do or adjusting your expectations. The “musts” become “mays,” and the daily stories are reduced to fewer editions in a single decision. I let it go. I stop writing every day. And do you know what happens? I become even more creative.
The pressure is gone. It no longer has to happen. The must becomes a may, and the enthusiasm returns.
By focusing on one thing at a time, I finally finish something I’ve been procrastinating on for two years: my website. At the same time, I’m working for clients and keeping up with my social media. It turns out that when you turn one “must” into an option, you become more productive in other areas. In my case, I complete all my assignments in no time.
We can set all sorts of beautiful goals for ourselves. We can cling to the idea of 10,000 hours and use it as an excuse. But I think what really matters is how much joy you find in something. How much focused time and passion you invest in it. Whether it's 1,000 hours or 20,000.
You can spend endless amounts of time on something, but if you don’t enjoy it—or if you lose your passion for it—you’ll never truly become an expert.
So let go of the “must.” Let go of the number. Maybe you’re already an expert. Maybe you’ve only just begun. In the end, nobody makes the rules except you.
Because what truly matters is how much passion you pour into something. That is the currency of this century: a value that never wears out, cannot be traded, and only grows the more you nurture it.
