After following your guide into an old sunken ship, suddenly, you lose sight of him. You are lost, running out of air. You taste fear in the back of your throat.

You reflect on your life, the accomplishments, regrets, past memories, things you had always wanted to do yet never got around to doing.

As the air drains out of your tank, you become disoriented. You lose consciousness, all becomes black.

What would you do?

If you were Phil Koeghan, host of The Amazing Race, after regaining consciousness back on the surface, you would immediately write a list for life: things to accomplish before you die, and proceed to complete every single one of them.

I had read this story with awe a few weeks before I met Mr. Koeghan in person.

It returned to me again when thinking about a realization I had this week in my One Week Job project: we sometimes need a certain disruption in our lives to act as a catalyst for change.

Shifting Your Worldview

I see this certain disruption as anything that causes us to re-evaluate our current situation.

Not all disruptions are or need to be as dramatic as the one Mr. Keoghan experienced, yet I feel such events serve as a wake up call that force us to re-evaluate our lives.

They cause us to ask: why am I doing what I am doing? Characterized by a new way of looking at the world, we see the familiar with fresh eyes and spot new opportunity.

For example, a disruption could happen during a vacation. Everything is new, we are outside of our normal environment, and view our surroundings with a sense of wonderment and curiousity.

When home again – we are refreshed, almost as if we are a tourist in our own city. We begin to see our current situation from an altered perspective.

This new perspective leads us to question the familiar and why things are a certain way.

The Constant Flux

With One Week Job, I am in a constant state of disruption. I am never in a job long enough to attain a comfortable routine and am continually entering new environments.

As a result, I have noticed that I am vastly more creative, open to new experiences, willing to step outside my comfort zone, and prepared to take more risks than when I’m in my comfortable home environment.

Since graduating, I have done quite a bit of traveling. I remember how when it was time to return home, I always felt somewhat reluctant.

Being in my comfortable home environment, I know how easy it can be to fall into a complacent routine where everything feels static and I simply go through the motions, falling victim to preconceptions of myself and others.

I now understand and recognize the value in exposing myself to new situations and foreign environments – to seek those situations that force me to learn about myself and evaluate what it is that I want to do.

To shake it up every now and then, and bring a little disruption into the equation.

Finding Inspiration

Although it was not a disruption of choice that Phil Keoghan experienced at the age of 19, it changed his life forever.

I was inspired by his story – and so when I heard he was coming to my hometown of Vancouver, I realized I had to meet him.

It was week ten of One Week Job and he was coming to sign autographs for his new book. I had my reservations, but I felt as if I needed to go.

I stood nervously in line waiting for my turn, the crowd anxiously jostling to get a glimpse. Then suddenly, we were face to face.

I told him how his story had inspired me, and explained what I was doing with One Week Job. He was impressed with the idea, looked me straight in the eyes and said with genuine sincerity, “do something with it.”

This interaction served as an important disruption for me: it inspired me to continue.

I don’t know where it will all lead, what will happen next, or where my path will take me, but I am enjoying journey.

Sean Aiken is traveling around the world working 52 jobs in 52 weeks, searching for his passion. He share his story with a road journal and weekly video episodes of his web tv show. Visit his site One Week Job and join the journey.

Part III in a series exploring the experience and responsibility of the traveler in the 21st century. Read the introductory post here then read Part I and Part II.

I wake up realizing the familiar acquaintance of feeling lost accompanies me and I see a long day of passing time ahead.

I think of home, my purpose, where I should be right now, what I should be doing. I begin to think how difficult life can be, its finality and even feel a little sorry for myself. I go downstairs and sit down for breakfast with my friend, an illegal migrant from Burma who runs the guesthouse I am staying in.

His face appears more burdened than usual so I ask him how he is doing? He tells me things could be getting unsafe for him and that he will be heading to live in the jungle at one of the nearby refugee camps for six months to a year at the end of February.

I am speechless.

I realize instantly how trivial my questions are and that asking myself such questions of life is a freedom many are not so lucky to have. I learn a valuable lesson I will not forget.

I am in Mae Sot, Thailand, a town on the Thai/Myanmar (Burma) border. Like many towns on the same border line, its surroundings serve as a “temporary” home for some 100,000 refugees and migrant workers of the total 1-2 million internally and externally displaced people the oppressive military regime in Burma has created.

Governing by fear, the military has been in control for the past 50 years, forcefully supressing the several pro-democracy movements by the Burmese people and arresting or killing those that oppose.

It is a grim situation here with a definite lack of global awareness and attention. Yet it is this global awareness that could create international pressure on the dictatorship that would serve as a crucial stimulant for change. The Thai government tolerates the resulting flood of refugees, yet they are restricted to a certain area by military checkpoints preventing them from venuturing further into Thailand.

Neither citizens of Thailand, nor can they return to Burma, the majority here are quite simply waiting for life to begin; to get back a life and a home that might only exist in their memories.

As a volunteer, I have been teaching English in a nearby village called Boarding High School for Orphans and Helpless Youths (BHSOH). It is one of the many illegal migrant schools in the area for Burmese refugee children and serves as a home for just under half of the students; school by day, kitchen, play area, and sleeping quarters by night.

Although these children have suffered so much and have so little, it was not evident in the smiles and positive attitudes of those I encountered. These children had no control of their past and what happened to place them in their current situation, but it is evident that only they control how they respond to it.

I believe it is a matter of acceptance.

Don’t get me wrong, I am talking about acceptance, not resignation. The moment we accept our present reality is the moment we can take measures to change it.

A very different reality from my own exists here, a reality very difficult to grasp.

It is now time for me to leave Mae Sot.

My friend drops me off at the bus station and we say goodbye. In a fair world I could ask him if he wanted to come with me, and that it would be his choice, his freedom to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ But, this is not possible in his reality, not today.

Meanwhile, my reality quickly changes, one day I will be in Cambodia standing in wonderment at the Temples of Angkor Wat, one week and I will be lying on a beach in Southern Thailand, just over one month and I will be back in Canada. A country where I am free to choose my own reality, democracy prevails, and freedom is not just a word providing hope that better days lie ahead.

I feel helpless, guilty, hopeful and incredibly thankful for the freedoms I am so blessed to have. It becomes painfully clear; these same freedoms I take for granted everyday are the same freedoms for which lives are lost for everyday, and the same freedoms that keep many alive, in hope that one day they might be as lucky as I.

If you are reading this, chances are you are one of the lucky ones too.

Sean Aiken is a Rastafarian travel junkie at heart, an avid sportsman and Ping Pong champion. Sean is also a co-founder of TravelBlogger, a global community of backpackers. Visit his profile to read more of his travels.

What do you think about Sean’s experience in the town of Mae Sot? Please share you thoughts in the comments.