I've always been the practical one when it came to everyday decisions. I allow myself a certain amount of money per week. I have over two jobs at all times to make sure I have a constant income (even if its just minimum wage or below.) I like to have things planned out at least two or three days prior to an event or even a lunch with a friend. I've never been the one for spontaneity. To be honest, it is probably why I end up being the mom of the group – no matter my state of being.
However, recently as I've been looking more and more forward to getting out in the real world, and seeing my friends and family walk across countless stages to receive a leather bound book; I've come to realize something. The end is near. Not the end as in death, but the end of having the ability to play hookey for a day at one of my jobs, or to skip a class to go to the beach with some friends. Pretty soon, I'm going to be bound to my job and to my employer. The fact that the job path I am taking is so demanding is making me realize that I won't have the time I thought I would have. I know that I will be missing out on weddings, on birthdays, on countless holidays. Yet, this isn't me complaining about what's around the corner; I love my field and am happy to make those event sacrifices, as long as I can be where I belong. But this sort of epiphany is giving me a second wind. This wind is steering me to travel.
My friends have always wanted to go across the world, through state-lines, or even more southern in our own state. I thought for a little that's why I decided to move down South for college. For the new atmosphere, open fields, and barely taken gravel roads – but the truth is, that's not why. I wanted to escape from my life that felt like a dead end. I can honestly say that I have done that for myself, and more. I'm happy that I went away, but the traveling that I wish to do now is not to escape. It's not to better my future or to find myself. I am doing that already, and have thus far. I want to explore.
Even the word itself brings a smile to my lips (cheesy, but true.) I've been so self-sheltered growing up, insecure, and predicable. But that's not the person that I am anymore, it's not the person I've become. I've become a happy, passionate, driven, and bold person within the past year. I've become the person I always used to admire, someone who embellishes what it is to be free. So what better way to celebrate being free for a few more years than to navigate through the country? Now is the time to take off and admire the world around you, because pretty soon you'll be in a routine that you'll need memories to keep you from insanity. Let's be unpredictable and wild while we still have the chance.
