When small trips spark big ideas
Recently, two excursions gave me fresh insight into questions I have been wrestling with for years: how we become self-authoring and how different cultures shape our sense of belonging. One took me back into the roots of American individualism. The other placed me in the center of Scandinavian egalitarianism. Together they reminded me that we all live between the pull of conformity and the pull of independence, and that finding our own balance is part of the self-authoring journey.
1. Louisa May Alcott’s house: Discovering Transcendentalism anew
One July weekend I joined friends to visit the Concord home of Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women. I had read about her before, but this time I learned how deeply her life was connected to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and other thinkers of the transcendentalist movement.
Her father taught transcendentalism to students, introducing radical methods for the time: mid-class recesses, no punishment for wandering attention, and lessons that encouraged independent thought.
I had always known about transcendentalism and its focus on nature, self-reliance, and breaking from conformity. But standing in that house, hearing stories about the family and their circle of thinkers, I felt the ideas differently. They became personal. Here were Americans, right in my historical backyard, who resisted the pressures of conformity, much like the pressures I see in Asian American communities today. The experience reminded me that people in every culture must break from some form of conformity to become self-authoring.
2. Copenhagen: Seeing egalitarianism up close
I chose Denmark for a summer stay partly because I often speak about Scandinavian egalitarianism in my cross cultural lectures, yet I had never truly experienced it.
Before arriving, I read Danish authors, practiced bits of the language, and spoke to people who live there. Once in Denmark, I made a point of talking with different people — in cafés, at community dinners, through friends of friends. These conversations helped me probe deeper into what I was seeing and hearing. When they said, “We belong more to society than to family,” it was no longer just a cultural idea I had read about. It became personal, shaped by their own stories, values, and experiences.
Two weeks in, I began to feel what I had only theorized: that here, your primary membership is to society as a whole, not just to family or tribe. The state, not the extended family, is the guarantor of welfare and security.
This mindset contrasted sharply with the Asian American experience, where family often defines identity. Feeling this difference deepened my understanding of both worlds and of myself. It revealed my own paradox. I want to be an individual with self-authorship, and I want my children to have that freedom, yet I also fear losing close connection with them later in life. At the same time, it made me appreciate certain Eastern values more, such as love and caring among family in difficult times.
The thread between them
In Concord, transcendentalism came alive when I heard the personal histories of the people who shaped it. In Copenhagen, egalitarianism became real when I heard Danes explain how it shapes their everyday lives. In both places, ideas I had studied for years shifted from abstract concepts to lived experiences.
Both challenged me to think about how belonging works and how much of my identity is shaped by the groups I am part of. They reminded me that self-authoring is not only about breaking away from conformity but also about consciously choosing the communities, values, and relationships you want to carry forward.
My criteria for an inspiring excursion
Embrace newness (Courage): Go somewhere unfamiliar. You never know what will spark new thinking.
Prime your mind (Perspective taking): Read, watch, or learn about the place beforehand. As the Korean saying goes, “You see as much as you know.” For me, learning about local thinkers, artists, and historical figures adds depth to the experience.
Meet people and discuss deeply (Practice): Share your impressions with someone open minded. My son’s take on transcendentalism gave me angles I would have missed.
Make time for solitude (Reflect): Being in a new place is not enough. You need mental space. Write, sketch, or think quietly. Thoreau had Walden Pond, Bill Gates has his “Think Week,” and Virginia Woolf took long countryside walks for clarity.
Closing thought
Looking at these four elements, I realize I also use them in my coaching practice. Coaching helps clients move in the direction they want, and that process requires courage, perspective taking, practice, reflection, and repeating the cycle.
I have returned from these excursions with more than photographs or memories. I have returned with new connections between ideas I care about deeply. The lesson is simple. If I want more of these breakthroughs, I need to create more of these moments. And maybe you do too.