I have always loved this quote. Something about it is just so exciting and makes it easier to justify change, even if it's scary. Well I am about about to lose sight of the shore, and I can attest it is scary.
I leave for Guyana in less than a month and it's just now settling in that this is really going to happen. While I've traveled quite a bit around the world, I have always had a home-base and never missed a holiday. I've been conflicted about that for a while and it started feeling like being a tourist was just another means of consumption. How could I criticize people "wasting" their money buying things, when I was doing the same thing buying experiences? Granted, those memories and experiences have been amazing and I am glad for every one of them.
But I am also ready to do "more". What exactly this more is remains to be seen but I hope that I can not only give back but also grow through my experience this coming year with the Peace Corps.
"We can only become responsible citizens of the world once we start
to acknowledge that there's a complex world out there that's not easy to
assimilate "
I want to be more than a tourist. I have wanted to do this for a long time and I am very excited about it. And yet, it's a scary thought to be away from everyone I love in a country that I know very little about. I suspect that I will also miss that cool evening breeze and the smell of the mountains. But I suspect I will gain more in this year than I will lose. And I will always have a home to return to which will just make the journey all the more enjoyable.
I hope you will join me on this journey.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
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