This really hits home for me. I poured myself into my education learning to play the trumpet to achieve just that; travel, immersion in different cultures, and meeting new people. I remember being so elated to hear that I was being accepted to play as a musician on cruise ships around the world. The dream was becoming a reality! What followed was years of being the most lonely and depressed I've ever been. The music that I had fallen in love with was now corporatized and it lost the heart and soul it once had. I felt like I was part of those robot bands that came out to play for kids at Chuck E. Cheese. I also found myself completely unmoved by sights like the Sydney opera house, Barçelona, the French riviera, the acropolis in Athens, etc.

Its really frustrating to tell people this story because they always say how I shouldn't have been depressed because "look at where you were!" and "how could anyone be sad when their career is literally a vacation?". We don't know the real reasons behind Anthony's death, but I know for a fact that people who lead seemingly glamorous lifestyles are not impervious to mental health issues.

The biggest lesson I learned from my travels was that happiness is only experienced by sharing it with others.