Hi, I’m Valen!

Welcome to my blog ~ aka the closest thing to a physicality of my soul possibly to exist on earth.

To start, let me tell you a little bit about myself:

I grew up in a small town in southern Maine along with a chaotic family of 2 moms, 2 dads, 4 brothers, and 2 sisters (the classic modern family). My childhood was peaceful and turbulent, but I spent most of it with my face in a book, dreaming about adventure.

I was a quiet, self-isolated kid that spent too time toiling about in my own head. I believe this led to a sort of “mental awakening” at a young age when I realized late one night while I was lying in bed that I had complete control over my mind and I could do anything in there that I wanted. My first act of “free will” was going on an imaginary helicopter ride.

This ~reevaluation of my subconscious properties~ has continued to be a major theme in my life. I’ve come to the conclusion that you cannot understand the outside world without first understanding the internal one. So I write about that a lot, you might find.

Anyway, I broke free of the small-town life when I moved to NYC for university. My first significant travel experience was when I studied abroad in China for one whole year. Since then, all I’ve wanted to do is just see as much of the world as possible and learn all there is to know about everything. Which I’ve attempted and still am attempting.

So far I have backpacked across Southeast Asia, Europe, and South America. I’ve had solo adventures in so many places, some of my favorites being the Amazon Rainforest, Egypt, walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, hitchhiking in China, and moving abroad to London for grad school to study conflict.

I consider myself both ironically and ironically un-ironically (yeah i know) to be a bit of a “neo-hippie.” Peace, love, and all that. I’m currently working in anti-war organizing + campaigning. I love it, but there is so much to do. The war machine is alive & thriving (but the revolution is imminent).

If you want to get involved in the anti-war movement, check out my resources on waging peace or send me an email at musinglyalong@gmail.com.

This blog came about pretty spontaneously. I decided to start it mid-COVID pandemic, laying on the beach on a cold spring morning that was so foggy I couldn’t even see five feet in front of me. I was bored, depressed, and I needed something to dream about.

If you’re confused about the name, “musingly” is a word that means to think a lot about something, which I’m undoubtedly guilty of. “Along” just came along by chance, as does some of the best things in life. It sounded nice to me in the moment. Still does. Like, if I have to be musing about, at least I’ll be going somewhere with it.

Irrelevant addition to this bio but sudden desire to include it in my story: I’ve always been unflinchingly aware of my mortality and always assumed it was because I would die young. I used this to explain my inexhaustible need to do everything I’ve ever wanted as soon as possible, but now that I’m [26] and still here I think it might be because I just can’t imagine myself old.

Well, I guess I’m technically still young, so the chance of an early death still exists. If I do die, tell my mom I wrote a letter to her on my desk, and that I already prepared my Spotify funeral playlist [username: megzyface]. My will is pinned in my phone’s notes app.

This blog is, more or a less, a series of existence musings, travel stories and advice, and articles about war, imperialism, and the possibility of a better future. Essentially it’s everything I’m interested in, along with some extensive tangential rantings about this or that and a lot of photographs and art and pretty things because I like pretty things and why shouldn’t I.

If you take nothing else, I hope you’ll go back to your daily life feeling a bit lighter and a bit more motivated to see the world, connect with local communities, and support our common humanity across borders.