This is my first formal piece of Odyssey Online content, and I want to do it justice. My name is Steven Richardson, and none of you know who I am. None of you have met me, outside of two people in my Odyssey Group. This is completely new for me, so I am going to do my best to make the most of this first introduction. These are my first steps into what may end up being something wonderful.

I don’t want to make a formal introduction, no one here at this moment is too terribly curious as to where I live, or what my favorite color is. Instead, I just want to write about a personal story, and who knows, it may end up relating to one of you out there that takes the time to read it.

I was never one of those kids that wanted to be an astronaut, or a race car driver. I didn’t care for the limelight of Hollywood, and the idea of being the president never seemed to fulfill my inner desires. When I was younger the only thing that interested me was the thought of how many things there were on this Earth to see. How many creatures roamed the ground, or the people that inhabited foreign villages. I didn’t want to be in one spot, I wanted to be everywhere.

People often ask one another, “what is it that you are most afraid of?”, I was never able to answer that question as a kid. Not because I wasn’t afraid of anything, I was frightened by plenty. The normal answers just didn’t seem like the right ones, of course, drowning or getting stuck in tight spaces made me feel anxious and uncomfortable. But there was just something about those answers that I knew wasn’t correct. Now, years down the road I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what I am terrified of. That is becoming stale, becoming stagnant, ceasing the intake of knowledge about things that are bigger than me.

I found what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and what I was most scared of at the same time. There was no grandiose event that made me see clearly through my foggy future intentions. One day I just realized, those desires and wants as a child, to see new things and experience new places, that’s what I had to follow. I was concerned that I may never be comfortable in life, that I may never become a millionaire and drive a nice car and be the poster child for 21-century success.

There is one other thing that needs to be said in this short synopsis of my life’s ambitions, I am a believer in Christ. I was so concerned about not owning the biggest house or the fanciest things, that it distracted me from my passion. Then I realized something beautiful. In my opinion, God created an entire world, not just to be left alone, but to be embraced and to immerse yourself in. So I told myself and God, that if I worked hard enough, I prayed enough, if I believed that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him, then he would help me make the most out of my finite existence.

At that time, I found two things that I was in love with, a stubborn girl named Lexus, like the car, and photography. Luckily that stubborn girl was nowhere near as stubborn as me, so after some mistakes on my behalf and enough courage to ask her to be my girlfriend, she said yes. For three years she has yet to take that agreement back, and I know she is just crazy enough to tag along with me on all my hopeful adventures.

Photography was something that just fell in my lap, I had always been an artist, I loved to draw and create things straight from imagination. In my mind, anything that I could come up with had to be more fantastic than something rooted in reality in our world. I was poorly mistaken. I came to the quick realization that this world is full of things that will bring tears to your eyes, and rip breath from your chest. So many people say that they are photographers, but I want to be more than that. I want to be an inspiration. To all those that were or are in my situation. Bogged down by notions of defeat and thoughts of disgrace. I want to help change those thoughts.

I want to travel the world and take pictures that people fall in love with, fall in awe of. I want to write about the things I experience in hopes that someone else will have the faith to take that first haunting leap into bliss. I want everyone to know, it will not be easy, far from it. But find something you love, something that you feel courageous about. Fight for it, work for it and have faith. George Bernard Shaw once said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself, life is about creating yourself”.

My name is Steven Richardson, and I hope that you stick with me through this insane adventure.