The Wanderlust: And So It Begins... the chocolate made me do it!

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” – Henry David Thoreau

 

When I was in 11^th grade English lit, I became introduced to the penned words of a literary mastermind. A man who understood the value of nature, equality, and experience. His writings were monumental in the movement of Transcendentalism. I was utterly captivated by this philosophy. At 16 years old, I was being told to seize merely living and begin to ‘Be’. I thought to myself, I’m going to do it. I am going to live the best life, travel the world, seize the moment and just “BE.” It’s seems my 16-year-old self did not really understand what that meant.

As each day passes I find I have learned more about this concept, the idea of experiencing life through my own personal perspective and finding the meaning in the experiences. I have learned to live deliberately and recognize the value in every serendipitous moment.  

Cut to –April 2018 (a month that seems to remind me of the things I have missed out on in life) I’m sitting there going through some papers in the safe and I come across my passport, only to open it up with sheer disappointment. Expired last year, April 2017. This can’t be right, I had my passport for over ten years and not a single stamp! Seriously!! How disappointing and a little sad to be frank. How is it that in 10 years’ time, I had not traveled the world like my 16-year-old self-had envisioned.  But it was okay right? Life happened. WAIT A MINUTE! What happened to that whole idea of not living life but BE-ing life?!? This was not acceptable; I had a list of excuses as to why I had not experienced the world, but the truth is, they were all crap. 

I’m a single woman, I can’t travel alone, I have no-one to go with me, it’s too expensive, I don’t have the time, I’ll go when I’m older, etc etc etc.  The list could go on for days, but the reality is they were just excuses that stemmed out of fear, but what was I so afraid of?!

I would sit and listen to my niece talk about her cool experiences of traveling through Europe, and I would watch my sister post pictures of Ireland, Mexico, Cuba. And I would sit here and say wow that looks cool, I want to travel one day too. One day?!? What was I waiting for?

I remember sitting at work on a Saturday morning in the ICU and we had a string of evaluations come through. 3 of my evaluations were under the age of 40 all with massive strokes. Now grant it, working in a hospital, I am predisposed to seeing a lot of worst case scenarios and the population count is not entirely reflective of the general population, but it got to me… what if I woke up one day in a hospital bed before the age of 40 without the physical capacity to take care of myself, would I have regrets, would my 16 year-old self be disappointed that I never experienced the adventures this world has to offer? It got me thinking, NO MORE EXCUSES, I am not getting any younger and there is a world full of awesome amazing adventures out there just waiting for me.  

I had been contemplating some travel for a while but still was a bit nervous to pull the trigger and then it was as if the universe just knew the potential existed that I would talk myself out of it, it gave me a sign… by way of chocolate. I opened my little piece of Dove chocolate (dark sea salt and caramel 😊 yum) and the inspiration message on the foil said, “Book the flight”. And so, I did! I mean the chocolate told me to do it, so I had to right? 

I booked my first trip to the Dominican Republic, I mean can we say paradise! I am beyond excited and Looking forward to spending some time enjoying the sun, sand and sangria!  The cool thing is, one of my best buds who I have not seen in over a year decided to book a flight as well. I have a feeling the shenanigans will be endless, and I anticipate some great stories to share as the travels unfold.

I started this blog to record my reflections and adventures… Thoreau once wrote "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."

Touché’

So I booked some more.

This next year is sure to be filled with some once in a lifetime experiences and I am looking forward to  having something more to sit down and write about. I will be sharing posts, pictures, stories, and videos of my travels. I hope you look forward to coming along for the adventures… from some local views, hometown favorites, the mountains, the beaches, sand, and snow… I will be spending time over the next year traveling to various places from the equator to the Arctic circle and anywhere in between. It’s time to make my 16-year-old self-proud!

“Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself. So live the life you imagined” -Thoreau

Special thanks to my Munchkin whose worldly travels have always been a source of inspiration and jealousy for me.