-The Sun Song, Michael Tolcher
I once dated a guy who tried to convince me that this trip would be impossible. "Its an unrealistic fantasy", he would say. "You can't just quit your job and leave the country for a year with no real plan. Maura, you're 25 years old and you don't have enough savings to do that. Be realistic."You be realistic and I'll be optimistic.
And he's not the only one. Plenty of people tried to steer me clear of this trip. I won't name names, but there was a crowd of naysayers. But you have a good job! The economy is hopeless and jobs are hard to come by! Some of the places you're going are unsafe! What if you run out of money? You'll get homesick. What if something terrible happens while you're in a foreign city?
Those are all valid concerns. But to me, the scariest "what if" would have been: what if I never tried it and never knew if I could have done it and what it would have been like? As Leona Lewis sings in "Happy", "I can't stand by the side and watch this life pass me by. So unhappy. But safe as could be. So what if it hurts me? So what if I break down? So what if this world just throws me off the edge, my feet run out of ground?" When that song came out in early 2009, I adopted it as my anthem and played it on full blast on my iPod any time I got overwhelmed with the fears of what could go wrong on this adventure. So what if something bad happens? I could always come home. I had to at least give it a shot.
Sure, I've been on a pretty tight budget this whole time and had to borrow a substantial amount of money to make it through the Australian leg of my trip. But that was after eight months of travel. And yes, it could be hard to find employment when I get home. But how can this year have made me anything but more employable, right? Plus, now I have bartending experience. ;)
Maybe there's something that we all feel like we HAVE to do. For one of my friends, its dying her hair pink. She's been talking about doing it since college but always gets talked out of it. For another, its picking up and randomly moving to a new city on the East Coast. Intimidating idea, but she's been toying with it for years. Maybe for some of those who enjoy more of an intellectual challenge, its going back to school or learning Japanese. Or becoming a chef. Or biking all the way from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The idea of a "soul mate" is universal and something everyone is constantly looking for, but I'm proposing we all pay a little more attention to our "soul journey". Not the one person you want to spend your life with, but instead the one challenge or adventure you want to give your life.
I could have listened to my ex and stayed in a job and routine that would have led to 2010 being predictable and safe. But as the Rascal Flatts song goes, "there comes a time in everyone's life when all they can see are the years passing by. And I have made up my mind that those days are gone." Amen.
For any of you who are reading this and thinking, geez-so what? She visited a few countries and managed to avoid coming home for a year. Its not that big of a deal. To those of you I say, good for you. Clearly, you know the payoff of a trip like this outweighs the fears and cost. I could have used more opinions like those when I first started planning this trip!
My new year's resolution is simple. To keep living this way. Following my gut. Challenging myself with the joy of adventure. Taking road trips with no destination. Spending an entire Saturday afternoon at the beach with a bottle of wine, a deck of cards and a good friend. Attending music festivals, even if the ticket prices are outrageous. Taking naps and reading novels in the sun. In 2011, I want to continue to take a little time to enjoy the view. Its a beautiful thing. And this trip has been the most beautiful adventure of my life.
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