No tags yet.
I took my last test as an undergraduate yesterday.
I packed my bags, said my goodbyes, and got on a plane.
(Thanks for the ride, mom)
A plane that is taking me to the other side of the world, more or less.
Why am I doing this?
I continue to ask myself this, as I sit in the Guadalajara airport, waiting for my next flight.
I'm doing this thing;
Traveling.
Attempting to speak another language (mostly responding to the flood of words with a blank stare and a good amount of stomach flips).
Trying to to understand my purpose (yes, the quintessential, cliché question).
I am doing THIS... this terrifying journey alone.
Not because I know exactly what my "calling" is.
But BECAUSE I am willing to go to a foreign country and figure that out alone.
...Because why the hell not?
Why the hell not go somewhere alone?
Why the hell not do something that shakes and challenges me?
Why would I sacrifice my mind and soul to the confines of a singular and ultimate destination, for a false sense of security?
Because that's comfortable?
Because that's what people in my hometown are doing?
Because it is close to the familiar?
...
no
I'm doing this, because I know there are many more of these treks ahead for me.
Because I'm not going to wake up one morning when I'm eighty years old, wishing I had taken more risks and traveled more (yes, classic "why not" self-talk).
Because I want to look at the night sky and truly KNOW we all see the same thing when we lift our heads up, no matter the distance from each other.
Because...
Why the hell not?
Here's to first.
The first of the many treks I WILL take in my lifetime.
The first time I am truly testing my beliefs, values, and ideas about the universe and my place in it.
The first, and the last time, I will ever do this at twenty-three years old.
The first time I will ever be this far away from my loved ones, for such a long time.
Here's to the first of it all.
And it all
starts
n
o
w
.