During my last hour in Querétaro, Mexico, my friend and I decided to take a final walk through the town square.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve taken the words of Dr. Joe Dispenza to heart,  the idea that human beings tend to do the same things over and over while expecting different results. Instead, he suggests we disrupt the pattern and make different choices. He wasn’t talking about walking or travel but I’ started to be more mindful about the path’ve found myself deliberately taking new routes on my walks.

So that afternoon, instead of turning left as I’d done twice before on this trip I turned right.

Almost immediately, serendipity stepped in. I came across two vendors selling Nomination charms.

’d never even heard of Nomination charms until a few years ago, and the story of how they entered my life feels very special. It begins with reconnecting with a childhood friend I hadn’t seen since we were five-years-old. We found each other on a local Facebook group of the Scottish town we had both grown up in and when I told her I was going to be in Scotland a few months later we made arrangements to meet. That’s when she gave me my first Nomination bracelet, and my first two charms: the Scottish flag and a heart engraved with the word “friend.”

 I’ve worn my bracelet ever since and I add to it whenever I visit Scotland. I now have quite a few charms on my bracelet and each one is carefully chosen and has some significance. It was a shop owner in Cumbernauld Town Centre who rearranged my charms, which were originally too scattered, so they tell a story. The order you put the charms in matters, he said, as well as how you group them. 

For me, the hard part is always choosing a charm that’s emblematic of the place. From my perspective Mexico is a country of bright tropical flowers, so choosing  floral charms felt instinctive. One charm that I bought reminded me of a doll that is popular in Mexico, a doll that actually comes from Querétaro. 

I now realize that my bracelet has become more than just a piece of jewelry; it’s become a story. It’s almost like a small, stainless steel  archive of where I’ve been and who I’ve been in those places. Each charm holds a memory and a connection to self and place. And looking for the perfect charm to represent myself and to remember places I’ve visited is only half the fun. 

And maybe that’s what travel does at its best. You turn right instead of left. And suddenly, you find a piece of yourself waiting there.