The first lesson I learned on this trip came before I even decided to go: If you’re going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk. And I talked the talk for years. I would bring up my gap year travel dream to anyone willing to listen. Every coffee date with a friend, every phone call to my mother, and every time I had a couple of drinks.
Despite all of my lip service, I worried that I would never do it.
In fact, I actively tried to talk myself out of it. It’s easy to justify taking off for a year when you just got fired from a job, or broke up with a significant other, or lacked any idea of what you wanted to do with your life. These are reasons people understand. But I loved my life and was incredibly proud of what I had built – an amazing relationship, a career in television, a beautiful apartment. Here I was jeopardizing all of it because an annoying voice in my head just wouldn’t leave me alone.
I knew I had to do it – or I would never forgive myself – the scary question was, at what cost?
I envisioned disaster scenarios in which everyone was angry and I lost everything. Thankfully, reality was much kinder. Responses from friends ranged from, “Holy shit you’re actually going to do it”, to “About damn time.”
Once I made the decision and said it out loud, things started to fall into place. I’m equal parts excited and scared out of my mind – but I feel a sense of peace. That voice pestering me is gone because I’m finally going to walk the walk. Adventure awaits.